Of Rainbows and Greek Fire
by thepuppetprincess
Summary: The son of Hades is one stubborn lad. Throw in a quest, two girls he might fall for, and a son of Apollo for contrast, and you've got yourself a tangled mess of lies, destruction, and the occasional sappy time.
1. Going The Wrong Way

First day of summer. Camp Half-blood is bound to get new campers. Oh, Joy, I thought. How great. (And I do mean this sarcastically.)

It's been two years since the war, and most probably, we'd have to educate the new campers with the story of the Hero(es) of Olympus. I bet Percy gets a kick out of this every summer.

Since being almost invincible, he's been getting too pigheaded. Annabeth doesn't mind him; she think love conquers all, a stupid mantra for a daughter of Athena.

Chiron has been instructing the cabin leaders on different sets of duties, like making the plants grow (for the Demeter cabin), prepare something educational (Athena's cabin), and make sure everything's organized. Percy and I have been assigned to welcome the new campers crossing the borders, make sure they won't freak out after seeing Peleus and basically talk to them and make them feel welcome and all.

It was a dull task. I could've just been assigned to sharpen the swords at the arena but no, I had to get stuck here. I sighed. Only a few campers came. Three boys and two girls. All of them, unclaimed. It was already late in the afternoon so maybe the other campers would arrive by tomorrow.

Percy entertained everyone, telling them stories about the gods and practically shocking their oh-so-innocent minds. Four of the newbies were so eager to listen to him babble about the truths that we were demigods and stuff like that. The last one (who was a girl) didn't seem to listen to Percy and just continued walking while staring at the sky.

I decided to follow her, not because I wanted to, but because she might get lost and have the harpies eat her bit by bit. It would have been fun to watch but then again, I am not a fan of gore, and Chiron might get mad at me for not supervising her.

The wind was blowing freely; you can sense the faint smell of strawberries lingering through the atmosphere.

I took quiet steps in following her, hoping in Hades that I would not have been noticed. She didn't seem to mind, as she went on with her slow but definite steps.

From the back, she had silky chocolate colored locks that fell inches above her waist. Her body was defined, I could tell. She was wearing a checkered polo, denim shorts and a pair of chucks. Her legs were firm and smooth and contoured. She had a reasonable height, only a few inches shorter than me. Her hips swayed with a rhythm and- Wait a sec, I should not be noticing these things!

I took a sigh and heaved out whatever thoughts of her I had in my head. She noticed, turning around to face me. I stopped walking a bit too late, I was almost near her face. Crap. She was startled at my accidental closeness and took a step back.

"Sorry." I managed to say. I had nothing else in my mind other than her startlingly green eyes, seeming as if it would take an eternity to see the meaning in it. She was a pretty face, to say the least. Probably a daughter of Aphrodite. I groaned at the thought. The Aphrodite cabin was one of the most populated here.

"Oh, I uh- Okay." She stuttered. Crimson streaked her face as she looked down.

I didn't realize where we were. We were at the beach. The sea was out making small shallow waves, and there were a few seashells scattered about. The sun was still high, resting only a few inches from the sea's calm orange hue. No campers at site.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to do anything bad to this girl.

I just sat down by the warm sand and let my head rest on my knees for a while. Best to ignore this girl for a while.

"So, why were you following me?" a calm voice of hers asked. Chills went down my spine as her breath circulated at the back of my neck.

"You might get lost," came my blunt answer. "Chiron would get mad at me if something happens to a new camper."

"Oh. So who's this Chiron guy?" she asked innocently. "Camp director?"

"Sort of. Mr. D's the director. Chiron's sort of like the assistant. They like pinochle." Pinochle? Seriously? I cannot believe I would say something as lame as that.

"So what have I gotten myself into? Tell me." I could say that she was rather curious about things. She was being herself, and I honestly like it. She wasn't trying hard to impress me like the girls from the other cabins from the previous years.

"Well, I don't mean to shock you, but you're a demigod." The easiest way to make someone understand is to say it straight.

"Mm-hm. My dad's a mortal, so that means I have a goddess for a mom. Wow." She said, her eyes twinkling with excitement. "And you're a son of?"

"Hades." Great. I'm gonna scare her. I looked away from her, to hide my scowl as I said the name.

"I see. How do we find out who our godly parent is?" Maybe she was genuinely interested, but I could sense hints of regret, like she regretted asking me who my dad was.

"Usually, at dinner, once you send an offering, your Olympian parent claims you."

She gulped. "Offer? I mean…"

"Oh, no no no. Not that kind of offering," I guess she was referring to sacrificial offerings, where you kill people and stuff. "You just burn part of your food and offer it in the name of the gods. They like the burning smell." I explained. She seemed to understand, nodding at everything I said.

We talked and talked, about random and trivial things, about the stars, my previous adventures, the story of the heroic (cough) Percy saving the entire world. In turn, she told me about being attacked by monsters and stuff.

"It was scary. And what's worse is that I couldn't tell anyone. You can't just go running around screaming and telling everyone that you were attacked by cyclopes, giants and gryphons. People would think you're crazy," She elaborated. When she talked, she would add hand gestures, which was really amusing.

It was already sunset, and I stood up. "It's time for dinner. You sit with the Hermes cabin. Just look for Travis and Connor Stoll, they look like twins, but they're not."

"Why?" she asked.

"Cabins and tables here are a tribute to the gods. You have to place respect somewhere. And since Hermes is the god of travelers, they have an acceptance policy, meaning that they'll take anyone undetermined to their shelter," I told her. "But since all the gods swore on the River Styx that they'll claim their children by the age of thirteen, you'll be claimed either later or tomorrow. Wait, how old are you?"

"Fifteen." she said hesitantly, probably embarrassed by her age or something.

"A year younger than me."

"Hey," she whispered. "You haven't told me your name."

"Oh, sorry," I said, scratching my head. "Nico di Angelo, son of Hades," I recited the proper way (as Chiron would call it) of introducing yourself at camp.

"Victoria Vanguard, undetermined." She said it with a smile, and reached out her hand for me to shake. Not wanting to disappoint her, I hesitantly took her hand and gave it a wobbly shake. Her hands were softer compared to mine. It was warm and welcoming.

"Uh, Nico..? You can let go now."

I was still thinking about her hand (yes, her hand) that I forgot that I was still holding it. I immediately let go and faced away from her, feeling the hotness in my face.

We went to dinner and got a lot of stares, especially from the Aphrodite cabin. I just sat alone at the Hades table, getting glimpses of how Vivi (what I had decided to call her for the time being) was getting along with the Stoll brothers and the other Hermes campers. She had joined the other new campers at the side of the table, with her staring precariously at her food.

The time came for the offering and Vivi looked nervous, along with the other new demigods. She's probably troubled with what she would say in offer of respect. Since the Hermes cabin goes first, I really can't come up to her and help. Hopefully, she'll know what to do by then.

The five of the transferees (as I would like to call them) went up to the fire and scraped a quarter of their dinner into the flames, all of them reciting a silent prayer of some sort. The girl opposite Vivi was a daughter of Aphrodite, as the scent of perfume enveloped the air that surrounded her; I didn't quite catch her name, but it was to no obvious use to me so I just ignored her as she went down from the fire. Two of the boys were sons of Hypnos, which would explain their somehow sleepy look. The last boy, Jasper Elizalde, was a son of Apollo, as where all of the other good-looking guys went.

Vivi was the last to be claimed. It was unusual. Colors of the rainbow enveloped her entire form iridescently, making her quite stunning to look at. Everyone cheered. Apparently, she was the first daughter of Iris here, as opposed to Butch who was a son of the same goddess (Oh, by the way. You must know that Butch is not here due to college and other stuff related to his mortal family.) The rainbow then led her to table #14, the table next to mine. She was alone there, which sort of made me somewhat happy, because she would feel the same kind of loneliness that I felt at dinner. I gave her a reassuring smile: something that looked like "hey, you're gonna have a great time here", but most likely showed sympathy, seeing as we might be feeling the same way.

Since she's the only daughter of Iris here, she's immediately appointed as cabin leader.

I guess that would mean a lot of pressure. For her, at least. Since being here for almost two years, I've been used to being alone, doing my own stuff. It could be a little hard for her to fit in.

Dinner was finished, and I saw her trudging over to the forest, opposite the direction of the other campers who were headed for their cabins. I hope she's okay with me following her again, I said in my head.

Now, don't be confused. I don't like her, but I don't dislike her either. Just the normal feeling you have over someone you just met. She was different from all the other girls here. I guess she had a naturally positive attitude towards others because she seemed to get along well with people, as I have seen during dinner. Maybe it has to do with the traits of her mom. Since Iris is a messenger of the gods, she has to be on good terms with people.

Here I go again, thinking of her, and this time, I didn't notice that I'd already bumped her. We toppled over, and I was on top.

"N-nico?" Came her rather exasperated reaction.

I just stared at her. Our faces were so close together, that when you look at us from afar, you would've thought us to be kissing, but I assure you, we're not. She pushed me off of her, got up and dusted herself. I did the same and apologized.

"Victoria," I choked out. "Sorry 'bout that."

"Don't call me that. Gimme a nickname of something. Victoria's too formal," she said.

"Vivi, then." I used the pronunciations of both her initials to come up with that. It seemed appropriate for her sort of cheerful attitude.

"Why are you following me again? Don't tell me I might get lost."

"Well, yeah, you'll get lost. But I also was curious. Why do you keep straying off?"

"I just wanted to be alone," came her reply. Man, I felt like I was intruding her personal space.

"D'you want me to leave?"

"No!" She yelped. I was rather shocked at her tone of voice. "I mean, no…Please, stay."

"Okay then." I said in response.

We were at Zeus' fist, and we were both quiet. I couldn't think of anything to talk about. And then things started to get awkward. I was too close to her again, and she was bothered about that. I moved a bit further away from her, hoping to give her space, but I guess she looked even more weird-ed out, like she thinks I think she's freaky.

"Nico, I just want you to know that…"

Her voice broke by the shrill sound of a harpy. It darted straight for me, totally ignoring Vivi. It pinned me to a tree and stared at me with ravenous eyes.

"Demigod flesssshhh for the harpiesssssss," it said with a screechy voice.

"Stop." An order came from Vivi. "Move. Away. From. The. Boy." While she was saying that, it really made the hairs on my arm raise. She was as scary as I could be. Her sinister eyes emerging from her face.

The harpy backed down and let me go. I mouthed a Thank You to Vivi.

"Daughter of Irissss." It hissed. "Don't ssstray from camp."

The harpy left and Vivi ran up to me and…

She hugged me. And then let go. Her hair was a mess and her polo ruffled up. But I didn't care. She was still beautiful. (Wait, what? Did I say that?)

"I'm so glad you're not dead meat." she cried.

"I-I…I, uh. How did you do that?" She saved my life, so I owe her one.

"Iris is the sister of the harpies. Close family ties, I guess. C'mon, we should probably head back to the cabins. Your cabin is directly opposite to mine, so we should just go together."

This time, she grabbed my hand and pulled me to the direction of the cabin houses. I felt my heart beat faster than usual. Could she be… Never mind.

We said good-bye and parted. I forgot to ask her what she was about to tell me before the creepy harpy attacked. Her cabin looked normal, but wait for it in the morning. It glows with color, and its windows were of stained glass. Different from my cabin: dark, black and had greek fire columns.

I took a short shower, put some clothes on and plopped down on my bed. She's different. She's wonderful. She saved my life. But I, the son of Hades, the Ghost King, the unaccepted, Mr. Lonely, can never love. It's not in my nature. I'm the embodiment of hate, of grief, of absolute misery. Child of the underworld, you can never love. What was this feeling? I shuddered and started closing my eyes. Perhaps I'd forget everything once I get some sleep. I slowly drifted away, fading in to the black darkness.

* * *

**A/N: First fanfic here. I told the story from Nico's POV 'cause it seemed harder for me to portray emotion from my OC's POV. Anyways, Nico here is kind of like the camp's lonely boy so he seemed sort of sulky at first. Read and review! Tell me what you think. ;)**


	2. He Says, She Says

**Nico's POV:**

I woke up to the sounds of knocks on my door. How dare they, waking up the son of Hades early in the morning. For crying out loud, it was only 6AM! Damn, they should have a good reason for waking me up at this hour.

I walked halfheartedly towards the door. The knocks got louder. _Stop being impatient,_ I thought. I didn't have to look scary because I already was: slouchy posture and a poker face, what more can you ask for in a person who (seemingly) doesn't care?

"What is it?" I asked, my eyebrow arching up. It was Percy. Great, I'd have to put up with him again.

"I want to talk to you. Meet me at the arena after breakfast." He said desperately. Yeah. I bet he got his sorry ass kicked by Annabeth. Probably not, though. Annabeth would never do such a thing. She's waaaay too much in love; probably bewitched by Aphrodite. Never mind that.

I hated this. I suddenly remembered what had transpired yesterday. Why didn't I just shadow-travel? Oh, right. I'm an idiot.

Thinking about yesterday's events made me…furious. I could have narrowly avoided those scenes (in which I hold Vivi's hand longer than expected; bumping her and falling on top) which caused me to be quite the heated topic for the Aphrodite cabin. Gossip mongers. Tch.

I ate breakfast. Vivi wasn't in her table. It was empty. Oh, I don't care. I shouldn't care. I felt nothing towards this. I finished eating and intentionally skipped an offering to Hades. He wouldn't mind, I suppose.

The sun was burning hot, even here in Camp Half-blood. I assume that Apollo's being cocky now and again; and Dionysus is poking fun at the campers by making them experience the heat of a high fever.

I better head to the arena. Percy had said he wanted to meet me there, and so, I went. Imagine my horror when I saw Percy and Annabeth (Percabeth, as others would call them; sometimes Annercy) making out behind one of the pillars. _Gross._

Is this what he wanted me to see? I took a step back and a twig snapped behind me. That startled them. Annabeth saw me first, breaking their kiss and blushing crimson. Percy turned to me and looked embarrassed. He shot me a _"don't-let-this-get-to-Chiron-please-thanks-i-owe-you-big-time"_ look. I just rolled my eyes at him.

Annabeth broke the silence, "Well, look at the time, I better get going," She said while looking at an imaginary fake watch at her left wrist. She left me and Percy alone, not bothering to look back at us.

"Sorry you had to see that, Nico." My mind is now corrupted, but it's not my first time to see something like that. Percy wouldn't look at me. I guess he was partly annoyed at me for interrupting their moment, but hey, he should know better than that.

"Fine. 's okay," I managed to choke out. He was being the pigheaded and arrogant Percy, but he's still my cousin (thanks to our dads). "Get to the point, why do you want me here?"

"Chiron asked me to save twin demigods being held captive by a cyclops. I'm bringing Grover with me, and I was thinking of bringing you along."

"A quest, eh? But why not Annabeth?" Yeah, why not your girlfriend? I'm pretty sure she'd take up almost any chance to be with you.

"I can't risk her life. She's already had bad experiences with cyclopes. I can't let another one ruin her." Percy sounded mature for that time. He didn't want Annabeth to get hurt, and that was probably the most mushiest thing I'd ever heard from him since them being an item.

"Let me think about it. When? Where to? How long do you suppose it takes?" I really wanted to go. I've been stuck at camp for a long time. It would be nice to stretch my legs after a long while.

"Probably the next day after tomorrow. To a school in Manhattan. The cyclops is acting as a janitor, and the half-bloods are stuck in the cleaning closet." I winced at the sound of that. Surely, a cleaning closet would be really cramped; how two of them were able to fit there was out of the question. But in Greek terms and stuff, things aren't always as they seem.

And then I shuddered. To a school? I haven't been in one since the last. _Westover Hall_. With Bianca. The last time I'd ever have with her. Sadness gushed from within. Damn.

"Percy, I'll think about it. I'm not sure. Give me a night. I'll see you tomorrow." I was pretty sure of myself when I said that. And I am not planning on seeing Percy for the rest of the day, seeing as it was only 11AM. I do not want to eat lunch. I wanted to be alone and think. Think for myself. Think of what I should do. Think of Vivi—_No. Not her again. _

After waving my hand at Percy as a mark of goodbye, I immediately headed off to the beach. Unusual for me, I know, but the breeze might help me cool off. I'd rather be at my own cabin and let the darkness overwhelm me, but not this time. I want to get a grip on myself and allow myself to breathe. Breathe air like a normal human being. Like there's nothing wrong.

But everything will go wrong now, wouldn't it? It always does.

Just my luck. I saw Vivi and that newly claimed Apollo kid (Jasper, I think?) sitting by the sand. Can this day get any worse? I stared at them, behind the shadows of the bushes. They were talking, talking, talking. How boring.

Now, I don't mean to be an eavesdropper, but me being their topic of conversation made me listen intently.

"You shouldn't be hanging around with the son of Hades." Jasper's tone of voice simply implied that he despised me.

"Why? You haven't even met him. He's a nice guy, I suppose," Vivi retorted.

Jasper scowled, "Well, he smells like dead people, some might say. Like I said, son of Hades, remember?"

I smell? I took a small moment and sniffed myself. Nothing. How dare he says I smell? Blast his father Apollo for being arrogant.

"He doesn't smell like anything, Jasper. And for the record, you smell awfully a lot like tree bark."

"I just bumped into tree nymphs is all. Anyway, back to topic. You need to be with more civilized company." Yeah, like he was civil enough.

Jasper is now officially on my blacklist.

"You haven't even met him. How can you say things like that?" Vivi asked, probably defending me.

"Word gets around. Heard a lot of things about him."

"Overnight?"

"Yeah."

"Like what?"

Jasper put on a mocking face. "He's said to have had numerous affairs with the Aphrodite girls. Some says he's gay. He has dead people for friends, other than his cousins. At night, he talks to himself. Summoning spirits and stuff. His sword sucks souls and the Demeter cabin is has a sort of grudge on him."

"Why? He can't have done something wrong." Yeah, Vivi was definitely on my side, unable to believe what Jasper was saying.

I don't go around having affairs. I'm not gay. (Seriously, I'm not. Just because I wear skin-tight jeans from time to time doesn't mean anything. It's a fashion statement, get it?) I shuddered, banishing the thought. I used to summon spirits, but that was way back before. Old news. My Stygian Iron sword is nothing to be afraid of. It's not like I'm a mass murderer or something.

"Well, not him. His dad. Hades abducted Demeter's daughter, Persephone. Demeter still hasn't forgiven him for that, even though she's already accepted him as part of the family."

"That's their problem. Jasper, as much as you try to say bad things about him, he's a really nice guy. Maybe you should get to know him."

Me, get to know him? No way. Never. I don't like this guy, and neither did he like me. Whatever.

"Well, I'm just telling you what I think. You've only known the guy for a day, barely even a day! There can't be any possible bonds between you yet," Jasper said with a fiery tone.

"He's a—"

I didn't want to hear more. I didn't want to hear Vivi defend me from that cocky son of Apollo, Jasper. Jasper knows nothing about me. He can't just believe rumors. Vivi doesn't know me that much either. Nothing about my life. Only my dad. How I helped Percy save Olympus. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

I left the scene. I headed back to the arena. Surely Percy wouldn't be there anymore. I could lash out my anger on training dummies. But if he was there, I could ask for more than just a session of a semi-pankration.

The wooden dummies were clothed in Greek armor. There were also some chewed up versions of those out in the corner, thanks to Mrs. O'Leary.

Percy wasn't there; Annabeth was. I took quiet steps, hoping not to disturb her as she evaluated the sharpness of the swords and knives on a specialized wood stump.

"Nico, I know you're there," she called out.

"Sorry. Am I interrupting something?" Of course I am.

"Is there a problem? You don't seem yourself today. You look paler than usual," she remarked, eyeing me with suspicion.

"Nothing. Can we have some training done? I feel a bit rusty."

True. It's been a while since I've last used my sword. There's not much to do here for me. No quests, no nothing. It seems better to be in the outside world, exploring. Besides, there can't be that much dangerous monsters out there; Percy had already obliterated a few.

"Why not?" She took a knife from the stand and took another one for me. It was longer and felt a bit heavier, but I could manage.

"Hit me with your best shot."

Half an hour had passed and I still wasn't tired. Annabeth started losing her balance. She was probably exhausted, unlike me. _I should stop now,_ I thought. But no, I couldn't. I remembered the things Jasper had said about me. It filled me up with rage, so much anger that I accidentally slashed through Annabeth's left shoulder, leaving a prominent gash that was bleeding profusely.

"Ow!" Annabeth screamed. She dropped her battle knife and knelt on the ground and clutched the wound with her hand. She was trembling with pain.

"Crap. I'm gonna be in serious trouble," I mumbled to myself.

"D-don't worry, Nico. I've got this." She produced a tube of ointment (a gift, I would suppose, from the Hecate cabin) that works wonders on wounds like these.

She squeezed out a dollop and applied it on her bleeding shoulder. Shouldn't that have hurt? She winced. My question has been answered, _thank the gods_. Sarcasm. Heavy use of it.

"Sorry," I choked out.

"Nico di Angelo, is something wrong? I can see it in your face." The way she said my name made me shiver, as if a cool breeze brushed through my body. Annabeth had this motherly kind of personality. I don't know, it just seems that way.

"Yes, there is," I sighed. "I overheard two of the new campers talk about me by the beach. I know I shouldn't mind them, but still..." It hurt, really. I felt like a child all of a sudden, like if my best friend started calling me lame (but insulting) names.

"Aw, Nico. Don't act like a kid. Be mature. It took Percy more than five years to achieve that. You can be better than him if you tried." Annabeth's voice was reassuring. I wanted to believe her, to be better than Percy, and not only in being mature.

"Better, huh?" I asked myself, although I'm pretty sure Annabeth heard me.

"Well, I'm leaving now. You could use some time alone." She left me at the arena. As soon as she left, I shadow traveled back to my room, and I felt a little exhausted. I might as well take a nap. No archery for me. My aim will never improve. No swimming. I might get sunburnt. (Dramatic, I know.) No dinner. I can let the hunger pass me out.

I should join Percy, then. It wouldn't hurt. It would get me some time away from camp.

* * *

**Vivi's POV:**

How dare that Jasper, talking about the bad side of Nico. So what if he's the son of Hades? Like that would lessen his demeanor. I admit I haven't known them that long, but still, the way he (Jasper) talked about Nico made me want to punch him, and even I am not a fan violence.

I shouldn't let this get to my head, though. Maybe I _should _steer clear of the son of Hades. Rumors are based on people's observations, and if a rumor proves to be true, well, that's scary.

I didn't see Nico at breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Never mind. Training comes first, whatever that was for. I suck at swordfighting, archery, and anything else where you had to wield a weapon. Percy said I would get better in time, I just didn't believe him.

Of what use is a daughter of Iris here?

Percy was accommodating enough. He told me his version of how he saved Olympus. How he was made invincible by testing the myth of the curse of Achilles. He wouldn't tell me what his Achilles' heel was, I wanted to pinch him there to see if it hurt.

"So, who're the people you hang out with?" Percy asked me while I was dipping arrow tips into some poison, as requested by Chiron. Since I couldn't fight, I might as well do something that can improve other people's fighting skills.

"I haven't really gotten to know anyone yet so…No one in particular." I said, bored. It was true. I only had my fifteen minutes of fame yesterday, before and after I had gotten claimed. After that, things went back to normal. I haven't had much luck in making friends: The Hermes cabin was too busy cleaning their stuff up, like their pranks that scattered all over the place; The Athena cabin was too busy researching; The Aphrodite cabin I stayed away from; they looked at me with their glassy blue eyes and it felt like knives on my back. The Demeter cabin said that they would try teaching me planting, a skill I know I haven't been successful in. Dang, I can't do anything right.

What can a demigod daughter of the rainbow goddess do?

"Yeah, well, I saw you and Nico by the beach yesterday. I thought, maybe…" Crap, he saw that? The only rumors I know about me and Nico circulating is that we attacked a poor and innocent harpy. How can a vicious, man-eating monster be _innocent?_

"…guy, after all." Percy finished, me unable to trace what he said first. I just nodded in reply and continued dipping the arrows.

Percy tried to interrogate me even more but I guess I came up with lamer replies so he just stopped there.

Percy smiled, "Well, if you need someone to talk to, look for me and Annabeth. And you should meet Rachel, too. Oh, and Tyson!" His eyes were gleaming at the thought of it.

Rachel was the oracle here, Tyson was his half-brother cyclops.

"Yeah, sure," I said, smiling in reply. And that's when he left me alone here, to work.

Percy was a nice guy, contrary to the things Nico has said about him (i.e. _arrogant, selfish, "breaks his promise", pigheaded, etc)._

I guess there's only one thing I am sure of: Don't judge someone unless you have really gotten to know them. I tried telling this to Jasper while we were on the beach but he pretty much just shrugged it off. I couldn't blame him; the sun was in his eyes.

* * *

**A/N: This seemed like a pretty boring chapter. I just wanted to make Jasper hate-able, I guess. Writer's block sucks, you know. Anyways, I hope the following chapters won't be as boring as this.**

**Vivi = Totally useless (for now.)  
Jasper = Dislikes Nico.  
Nico = Dislikes Jasper. (The feeling is mutual.)**

**Tell me what you think! Review~**


	3. Reluctant

The next day, I told Percy I'd come along with the quest. His eyes glimmered with excitement. He seemed happy that we would be able to work together again. He thanked me and sent me off to prepare my stuff.

Things seemed to be the same every single day, much like a routine. Boring. So, taking this into account, it might be a reason as to why I want to go on a quest. Any quest. Get away from here and go on an adventure. Maybe I seemed a little wistful, maybe not. But for now, I'm determined.

That was mostly it. Percy reassured me that this quest was an easy feat; we won't break a sweat. Easy for him to say. He already had encounters with cyclopes. He already knew how to beat them. Plus, he's invincible. What'd he need me for? I shrugged it off and went to my cabin.

What would I bring? My sword, of course. A canteen of nectar and portable packets of ambrosia. Some extra clothes, just in case. That's it, I guess. I just stuffed them into a sack bag. I'm ready. But…

The quest was tomorrow, today was today. I'd have to wait. That sucks. I had archery before lunch. Best to send stray arrows flying. I snickered and went on my way.

When I arrived at the field, Chiron spotted me and said, "Ah, Nico. Perfect timing. Can you help Miss Vanguard? She seems a bit fidget-y today."

Chiron seemed busy today, teaching three cabins at the same time: the Hecate cabin (they kept complaining about not being allowed to use magic to launch their arrows), the Hypnos cabin (who fell asleep on right on their feet) and the Iris cabin.

I raised an eyebrow at his request, but nevertheless, I said, "Yeah, whatever." Maybe I should be a bit more respectful towards my elders (like Chiron, who's probably more than just a thousand years old). I obliged and went to where Vivi was standing.

"Need help?" I offered to her. Sure, I may not be one of the best archers here (I never was) but at least I knew how to use those kinds of things.

"N-no, but thanks, anyway. Have to do this myself if I want to learn," She replied, stuttering. What was wrong with this girl?

"Suit yourself." I grabbed myself my own bow and arrow, and started to aim. I shot an arrow straight at the target. Bulls-eye. Lucky shot, I guess. I could never do this twice.

"You're good at these kinds of things. I'm kind of jealous. I can never use a weapon properly," she explained.

"It takes practice." I dropped my gear and started adjust her aim to the target. Her arms resisted mine, but eventually gave way for me to fully pinpoint the precise location for the best chances of a shot. She trembled as I did so. "Now, let go."

Her arrow went straight, although it didn't reach the center of the target.

"At least the arrow hit something this time, and it's not someone's head," she said. I immediately registered her as a failure in archery.

"Why are you practicing archery anyway? Sword fighting is easier than this."

"I-I…Well, Jasper challenged me to an archery contest. If I win, he gets to teach me how to heal people. If he wins…He hasn't told me yet," She said. "He was the one that pressed me, actually. Which is why I'm training. I want to learn something. I want to be useful for a change."

"Haven't you discovered anything about what you can do? I mean, your mom is Iris. Maybe you have similar powers like her."

"Like what? Make a rainbow over my head and say 'imagination~'? The only thing I know her for is IM-ing. Maybe I could get a stronger connection somehow? Never mind."

"You shouldn't underestimate your mom," I said with caution. "You'll find out soon enough."

"Sure, sure," Came her carefree reply. Sometimes it was just easy to be with her. Not having to act all sulky to keep my image steady.

People here still think I'm not over Bianca's passing or being the child of the Underworld's ruler had painted a permanent "evil" streak on my face. I can be as normal as I want, for all they care. I can be sociable if I wanted to. Right now, I just want to make a friend.

For a while, I have eternally ruled out that all I was destined for was a cruel fate, devoid of happiness. All they see is a grief-stricken Nico di Angelo. They were scared of me. They may have befriended me for a while, but that, too, had passed. Who says that Hades' kids have to be so dark and angry all the time? Fools.

"I see. When's your contest?"

"Later in the afternoon. Probably during free time. You wanna watch?" She asked.

"Nah, I'll pass," I replied. Sure, it might be fun to see something like that, but it seemed unnecessary. I could get some training done that time; I wouldn't waste precious moments watching people be better than others.

"Okay, then." And that was the end of our conversation. Great going, Nico.

After archery, it was time for the picnic lunch. The nymphs served special barbecue, roasted cheese, grapes and crackers. I guess it's because they wanted us to eat healthy.

I looked around and saw Percy and Tyson, eating together, happily. Like brothers. Do I sense hints of envy? Yeah, it's true. For a while, I've been thinking: If Bianca hadn't joined the hunters, we'd be together right now, enjoying each other's company on our own table. I wouldn't have to be alone. But no, it was for her own selfish reasons that she wanted to join Artemis and her hunters. She thought of me as a burden to her own freedom. And then she got killed. By a defective Talos (as told by Percy). She sacrificed herself. And I didn't even get the chance to say good-bye. I'd lost her twice. Who could blame me for acting all snooty and sulky?

I caught a glimpse of Mr. D eating with his son, Pollux. The Aphrodite cabin was noisy, probably spreading more gossip. The Apollo cabin sang songs while eating. The Hermes cabin? Initiating a food fight. Typical. As for the other people, they were just plain eating and making noise.

Vivi was at the opposite side, eating alone, just like me. If only there weren't stupid rules like sitting on our respective tables. This sucks. This sucks. This sucks. I stabbed my barbecue with a knife and started tearing through it with such force that I swear, there were scratches noticeable enough on the plate.

A voice came from behind and said, "Haven't we educated you enough, Miko de Anglico? You are in no such position to destroy our fine china." Crap, it was Mr. D. Judging from the way he distorted my name, it has to be him.

"Sorry, _sir. _Won't happen again." I promised, halfheartedly.

"Oh, of course you wouldn't. We'll have to punish you, first." As he said that, a glowing purple fire came from his eyes. Eerie. I thought he'd turn me into a purple firefly, or strangle me with a grapevine.

I was wrong. I guess Mr. D was being nice, because I just had to collect the plates from the campers who had finished eating. Embarrassing, I know. But at least it was only for the entire day.

After eating, offering, I had to pick the plates up. The nymphs snickered at me as some of the plates shimmered and vanished. The Apollo cabin jeered and whistled saying "Waiter!", over and over again. I heard giggles. Damn.

Done with the stupid task. I went to the forest where they usually played capture the flag. I sat at the roots of an ancient tree and decided to take a nap. Unfortunately, I was disturbed...

...By none other than the great (sarcasm) Jasper himself; son of the sun god. He would've looked downright handsome for a girl if he didn't have a scowl etched on his face as he looked down on me.

"You must be di Angelo." What was this guy's problem? Seriously? Calling me by my surname is definitely insulting. "Steer clear of Vivi." His tone of voice meant he was dead serious. Damn, he was irritating.

"What the heck is your problem? She is not your property. And, you have no right to tell me what to do. You're not the boss of me," I scoffed. "And I hang out with anyone I want. Vivi included."

"Tch. Stubborn. Whatever, di Angelo. She's mine." And with that, he left me on a positive note. Not. Anger welled up inside of me, and I desperately wanted to hit something. I hope you lose to her, you son of a- I trailed off in my thoughts, unable to fall asleep.

Moments passed. I stayed by the tree 'til nightfall. (I didn't even expect that as possible seeing as everyone here has ADHD.) A wave of mixed emotions ran through me, and I thought only girls felt this. Irritation from Mr. D, sentencing me to a stupid task. Anger at Jasper, how he could be so cocky and aggravating and annoying. Weirded out at Percy for acting all giddy when I agreed to join the quest. Fine, let's just say I'm an emotionally unstable teen.

It's probably the end of dinner time by now. I don't mind. I hope I collapse. But then again, Mr. D might be out looking for me, hoping to relish the humialiated look on my face as I would collect plates and dishes. That man is a sadist. Sadist, I tell you. _Sadist._ He loves seeing other people in pain. Or in my case, publicly humiliated.

As I dust myself off to get back to the pavillion, an Iris Message appeared before me. Unlike the usual I-M's, this one was much clearer.

A familiar voice greeted me. "Nico!"

It was Vivi. "Hey. What's up?"

"The sky. So anyway, Mr. D seems to have been looking for you a while ago. He probably got a bit pissed since he couldn't find you. I told him to take it easy and drink some Diet Coke. He's relaxing for now. You might want to _not_ show up to him for a while. Be glad the satyrs cooled him off."

"Well, okay. What d'you need me for? You wouldn't send an Iris Message for nothing, right?" She didn't seem the kind to waste drachmas on useless things.

"I'd like you to go to Zeus' Fist. Find me there. I have something to tell you. Skip the s'mores," She told me. I really, really wanted to go, but then Percy showed up, and the I-M vanished.

"Nico, we have to leave now." Percy said, serious and mature, though I could see through his eyes that in his very soul, he was panicked.

"I thought we'd leave tomorrow," came my weak reply. Can't we save them another day?

"Chiron received a distress call from the twins." Why didn't I think of that? The twins were simply too young to put up a fight with a grown cyclops. They could be devoured any time now. Zeus forbid that they'd have to suffer a painful death.

"I'll go," I said reluctantly. We left Camp Half-Blood. And I regretted not being able to say my good-byes to _her._

_

* * *

_

**A/N: After two weeks of being gone (no thanks to bloody school projects), this is what I came up with. Sooooo lame. So starting with the next chapter, I'm gonna break the law. JK, I'll just be switching POV's starting next time. It's hard to portray the happenings on only one point of view. Love it or hate, I don't mind. Review, if you'd like.**


	4. Grass Flavored Ice Cream

_Two Weeks._

It's been two weeks since the quest. It went well, I suppose.

A short relay of what happened before, during and after the quest:

Percy, Grover, and I fell asleep on a bus. We took a little detour and ended up entering Tark-O's Gym and Exercise Equipment. The "Tark" on its signboard had an arrow signaling to the left above it.

Tsk, tsk. We had entered the abode of the personification of strength, Kratos. (Get it?) Now, you wouldn't want to mess with this guy. He's big, he's buff, he's plain scary. And you could see the sense of blood lust in his eyes. He hurled his treadmill at us just because Grover puked at his feet. Despite gaining the spirit of the Lord of the Wild, he still has his moments. The stench there was overwhelming. Gym shorts and sweaty socks and loads of perspiration odor. Percy was in a hurry so he just slashed through Kratos's chest, only inflicting minor damage. We had to run for it. He threw a 50k barbell at us which crashed straight through the wall, earning police sirens and distress calls from the neighbors.

After that, we made it to the school. The cyclops janitor was named Animatros, meaning "bloody"? I didn't quite catch it. The cleaning closet was bigger than I expected. As in, huge. Really huge. Huger than huge. You get the point. There were mops and brooms, but the Mist that clouded it had faded, so you would actually see bone clubs, blood-stained silver swords, monster teeth and stuff and so. It was a disgusting display of ancient artifacts.

"Percy, what do we do? I can't see the kids." They weren't dead yet. I would know if that happened. It's a son-of-Hades thing, you wouldn't understand.

"Yeah, well, why don't we split up?" Great, Percy. Just _great_. Now, if someone got hurt because of your plan, I blame you.

Grover gulped. I shrugged. Percy flipped his hair. The split-up plan was followed reluctantly by both me and Grover. Percy went straight ahead, Grover wearily trotted to the left side, where the weapons were. I had to check the shadows. To the dark side, I thought to myself.

I couldn't sense the cyclops's presence anywhere, though I could have sworn I heard a kid crying for help. I went further into the darkness. And finally, I saw the twins. Piece of cake. Who knew rescuing kids were so easy? But then again, this was a quest. Anything could go wrong.

I took the children, the girl was crying and said she wanted her mommy, the boy, instead of comforting her, said she was a _scaredy-cat_ of all things. The normal things kids do. I asked them who their parents were. Their mom was a mortal, and their dad was Hephaestus. For little kids, they seem to know much about their parentage. We headed off to look for Percy, only to find that Grover was bound by ropes and a hungry cyclops, Animatros, eyeing his newly found lunch.

"Nico!" Grover bleated. "Percyyyy! Somebody, help meeee!" I covered my ears as Grover's scream pierced my ears. Even Animatros was surprised that something so small can be deafeningly loud.

Never mind that, Animatros probably thought, because he immediately lunged over Grover like a kid chasing his ball. Good thing Grover leaped away just in time.

Drat. I told the kids to hide and unsheathed my Stygian Iron sword (a little disenchanted with the fact that it doesn't have a name; seeing as Percy had his Riptide/Anaklusmos) and went for the kill. As soon as the cyclops saw me rushing towards him, he grabbed one of the nearest bone clubs and started swinging in all directions possible like a savage viking. I didn't get hit, but Grover did, despite the fact that he had been trying to dodge all the strikes. Grover flew across the room, and smashed trough the wall. He lay by the floor, unconscious.

And then I suddenly remembered:

"_Take care of Grover, 'kay?" Said a fierce looking Juniper. "Or else.. or else, I'll..." She trailed off, lost in her thought._

"_Don't worry, nothing bad is gonna happen to him." I replied, staring at her elfish green face. We were by the creek, me and Juniper, discussing about the coming quest._

"_I'll turn you into a daisy!" She exclaimed. I knew she was just playing around, but I couldn't help but notice the determination in eyes, seeming as if she __**was**__ going to turn me into a flower. Could nymphs really do that?_

Juniper is going to kill me.

Back to the action: How was I supposed to attack this thing? Then Percy came along, striking Animatros by the thigh. The thing screamed as monster blood dripped from the wound. No doubt Percy was using me as a distraction, a decoy. I won't settle for second best. The cyclops knelt in agony, and I took the chance. I jumped on his knee and climbed up to his head. It wasn't an easy feat; he gnarled and swung around, desperately trying to loosen me up from my grip on his thick, calloused skin.

"Your efforts are futile, Animatros!" I roared as I stabbed my sword on to his shoulder, causing him to stumble down and writhe in pain. More blood. Percy then climbed up and took all the glory from me, not bothering to pause for a moment, as he stabbed Riptide into the cyclops's eye. Merciless, I thought. How would Tyson feel if he found out that Percy did this to his kin? Ignore the thought. The cyclops exploded into sandy yellow dust, making me fall from where I was standing and onto the ground. Percy held out his hand for me to help me get up, but by my being stubborn, I refused.

Got up and dusted myself off. I sighed. Percy was the hero again. The kids would be eternally grateful to him. _Oh, shoot! Grover!_ I rushed to where his limp body tangled through with stone and rubble. He was still breathing, thank Hades.

Soon after we bundled up, said a prayer to the gods, got lost in the city, boarded on a bus, we finally emerged back at Camp. It has only been two days. Great. Two days could change anything. Any-_freakin'_-thing. The scent of strawberries enveloped the air. Birds chirped. Kids playing around. Satyrs with their reed pipes. The clang of swords hitting each other. It felt good to be…home.

So back to the present, I definitely felt normal. Although, I don't think I look normal. My hair is a shaggy black mess, the bags under my eyes seemed bigger and darker, and a scowl seemed permanently etched to my olive face. I've been like this since we got back from the quest. Jake and Janie (the twins) were happily welcomed to the Hephaestus cabin, Percy renowned as a hero once more, Grover being in Intensive Juniper Care, me being ignored. The usual things proceed.

And then there's this weird feeling in me, because the first time I saw Vivi after the quest, she was in Jasper's arms, sneakily hiding away from the bonfire sing-a-long after dinner. It was dark that time, so I couldn't tell what her expression looked like. I. Shouldn't. Care. I. Don't. Care. Never. Never. NEVER.

For two weeks, I've been ignoring her, making myself busy so thoughts of her wouldn't invade my head. I piled myself with rigorous sword fighting, heavy archery training, exasperating races with the dryads, and a whole lot of dog walking with Mrs. O'Leary. I was tired at most, but it helped. I forgot all about her. I concentrated then on making myself stronger.

But for what reason? There never seemed to be any concrete answer to whatever questions I had. I sighed. I was by the beach, letting the waves caress my tired feet. I found a conch shell. I threw it as far as I could to the sea. I grabbed a fistful of sand and mussed it through my hair. Now I look like a retard. And I hated myself for feeling this way.

And then the most unexpected voice came from behind. It could only be: a) Rachel - she was visiting right now, b) Annabeth; or c) Clarisse - we've been on good terms since my individual training sessions with her. Come on, guess.

If you said A or C, you're wrong. It was Annabeth, acting all motherly and such. Her curly blonde her was tied in a ponytail, and her stormy gray eyes seemed to look at me quizzically; She might be assessing what kind of mood I'm in right now, or maybe it was just the particles of sand in my hair. Why was she here?

"What do you want?" My voice came out harsher than I had actually intended.

Annabeth didn't seem to mind. "Well, if you're done sulking, you might want to come with me. Let's take a walk through the forest."

"The forest?"

"Yeah, you heard me. The forest."

"Ah, the forest."

"Oh, just come on." Annabeth rolled her eyes at me. I forced down a laugh.

Now I had been wondering. Annabeth doesn't usually spend time with me, given that she has other projects like being the official architect for Mt. Olympus (her greatest achievement), teaching Ancient Greek, and she has a boyfriend. Annabeth must want to talk to me about something.

"Why are we here, again?" I asked. The forest floor was littered with scraps of diet coke cans and tissue paper, like someone had been partying here a few days ago.

"I need you to help me pick up the trash. The satyrs are busy with the construction."

"What construction?"

"The Satyr Station. They'll be serving ice cream. Isn't that great? Now we have something to cool ourselves off in the summer heat. The idea came from the Aphrodite, Apollo and Iris cabins. Plus, since it's being run by satyrs and nymphs, I'm pretty sure it'll be organic."

"That's…cool." Oh, joy. Yes, it's cool. It's ice cream, duh.

Annabeth and I started picking up litter from the creek, me getting occasional glances from Annabeth. I had been sulking the whole time we were doing the job. Of course I wasn't enjoying the task. But since we **were** helping Mother Earth, might as well do so.

Man, my back hurts after finishing the dull work. Annabeth thanked me and went on her way. I decided to take a shower back in my cabin.

The water felt chilly as it ran through my bare skin. Stayed in the shower much longer than expected. I have pruny fingers.

Let me sum it up. Things have changed after two weeks.

1) Vivi comes up to me once in a while. I ignore her because…Just because.

2) Grover asks me to test-run the Satyr Station. I serve grass flavored ice cream.

3) Clarisse accidentally cut through my thigh because of a love quarrel with Chris. She apologizes and leaves me bleeding.

4) A girl named Megan Glendale from the Aphrodite cabin found me and patched me up.

5) Not all Aphrodite girls are beauty-conscious. Megan doesn't care about beauty.

Megan Glendale is this girl from the Aphrodite cabin (as I may have mentioned above) who is apparently different from what is expected. Megan is smart, outdoorsy, and doesn't care about breaking a sweat or getting mud on her dainty ballet flats. She's comfortable even without make-up and knows how to strike up a conversation. Not an ordinary chick.

As Megan and I started hanging out together, summer seemed to be better for me, She had this interesting quirk. She makes funny faces at you when you're not looking. She doesn't care about how her face gets scrunched up when she makes a fish mouth with thin slits for eyes.

After the shower, I got dressed. The usual black. It's easier to blend into shadows that way. I went out to get a breather and saw Megan reading a book at the front porch of cabin ten. I came up to her and asked her if she wanted to spend some time with me.

"Sure. Why not?"

Off we went to the strawberry fields. Megan loves this place because the scent of strawberries were so much better than the DKNY perfume she got from her mom last summer.

"Nico, what do you think of me?" Megan asked, looking at me with honest curiosity. Why can't she have asked "Do I look fat?" or something? It's an easier question for me to answer.

"Well, I think you're normal. As normal as it could get as a half-blood." I thought it was good enough to be considered as an answer.

"I see. Well, what would you want to talk about?"

"Just ask me something." I really didn't care.

"Do you like Vivi?" I am caught off-guard as soon as I heard that question.

* * *

**A/N: Hey. This is the revised edition of Chapter 4 because somehow, FF.N kind of mixed it up with another chapter. Hi, hello. Review?**


	5. We Don't Make Sense

The way Megan had asked that question felt like she hit my head with a sledgehammer, with a force so strong that it could have knocked my head off in a most gruesome way.

I spotted a satyr tending to the dead vines a mile away from us. Praying to Hades that he would hear me, I spoke in a soft voice I know I would not use unless I really wanted to. "Throw a strawberry at her."

The satyr heard it, and without questioning my judgment, plucked a ripe strawberry the size of a drachma and threw it at Megan with deadly accuracy. It hit the small of her back, and she responded with an "Ow!" and ran after the satyr. Of course, I had to laugh. It's not everyday you see Megan getting annoyed with other people, or in this case, satyrs. Megan was a cool-headed girl, always obsessed with books and not blush-on.

Two things have been added to my to-do list: 1) Thank the satyr and give him a free cone of ice cream (Yes, I volunteered to work there now, seeing as I get free scoops and a two drachma allowance per day), and 2) Send a hearty offering to Hades.

Megan soon got tired chasing the bleating satyr. She came back up to up to me, and punched me squarely on the shoulder. "You made him do that."

"Did not," I smirked. "He's just being playful."

"Aargh, Nico. I squished some strawberries. Mr. D's gonna be mad." She rolled her eyes at me.

"Then let's get the hell outta here."

She forgot about the "like" question, which I am happy about. She could see me smiling from the corner of my mouth and she gets a bit red about it. I couldn't see why. Surely enough, she'll remember that and spike it up next time.

We walked away from the fields and decided to head towards the arena to play with Mrs. O'Leary. No doubt the hell hound would be surprised to have another playmate to toy with. Megan looks like she's up for any adventure. Or, so I thought.

"You've got dirt on your face." I chided playfully.

"Never mind that. Drew's gonna worry more that I broke a nail. I'd better fix this up before she starts screaming." I guessing Drew is overly obsessive-compulsive when it comes to superficial things like that.

"That's just like saying you have to smile just to look happy."

"Oh, I don't know. What are you saying? You do have to smile to look happy," She countered.

"No, you don't. I'm happy, and I'm not smiling."

"Pray tell why you're happy," She groaned, seeming as if she can't see the obvious.

"Because I am." And I stuck my tongue out at her.

"You're not making sense."

"I don't have to."

"Boys are impossible."

"Whatever."

"Men are from Mars!" She shouted.

"Yeah, well, women are from Venus!" I retorted, but not in a harsh way. More of a friendly manner.

"You do know that we're actually referring to the planets named after the Roman counterparts of our gods." She stifled a laugh.

We're just like kids, fighting and arguing. I don't mind. The atmosphere seems more calm and relaxing. The sky was blue, the breeze was cool. A perfect day at camp.

And someone had to ruin it.

"Yo, Nico! Megan, dear! Yoohoo! Over here!" Someone from behind us cooed. Speak of the devil, it was Drew.

We both turned around and saw her waving exaggeratedly at us. Her long, dark hair swayed with a rhythm and her eyelashes glittered pink. PINK. Ugh, pink is so childish.

"Megan, it's time for your appointment!" Drew announced. "Mother dearest wants to talk to you!" She said, her voice coated with sugar and honey. Now _that_, was disturbing.

She walked towards us and whispered in my ear, "I'll take her off your hands for now, sweetie." Knowing Drew, this was completely normal for her and she would not have noticed that her voice is seductive. I shrugged it off, and waved good-bye to the both of them. I wonder what Aphrodite talks about with her kids?

I still had work to do at the Satyr Station. Maybe I should skip the playtime with Mrs. O'Leary. Serve at least three cones and I get a drachma bonus. Still, I didn't feel like I wanted to do that.

Again, I am faced with a terrible dilemma: What should I do now?

Let's play Pinochle with the wine dude!

But then again, I don't know how to play that card game. All I know is…Mythomagic. I wish I hadn't burned it the fire years ago. The game I loved the most. The game that got Bianca annoyed with me. The game that was the reason for Bianca's choice of leaving me. The sudden wave of nostalgia made me bitter.

Fine then. Let's go to the underworld.

* * *

I didn't tell Chiron or anyone from the Big House that I'd be leaving today. It doesn't matter; I can always visit the Underworld anytime I want. A privilege of the children of Hades. But, Mr. D might be irritated by the fact that I've escaped from camp, and he might blast me to smithereens or turn me into a rotten turnip or something. Not to worry, his uncle Hades will talk sense into him.

I headed straight for Erebus. Some of the souls followed, although they kept a distance from me. I brought along my sword, no wonder. You've gotta be prepared for anything. I'm completely harmless, though, the souls were still careful to touch me. Like, I might get offended and slash them with Stygian Iron and suck their souls for power, or banish them to Tartarus just because I got dirt on my clothes. Hades is like that, but the trait has never rubbed off on me. I'm still a very rational person.

I went through Persephone's Garden. Aspens, Poplars, Daffodils, Poppies, Aconites, and Pomegranates scattered all over the place. You might not know why, but here's my dad's and Persephone's story: Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, was out picking flowers one day when Hades, the god of the underworld, being a desperately eligible bachelor with severely limited wooing skills, abducted the young woman to have her sit beside him where he reigned as King of the Dead.

Her mother, Demeter was goddess of the harvest. In her mourning of the loss of Persephone, she went on strike and brought about a bitter-cold induced famine. She nagged Zeus, god of the heavens, to rescue their only child. Zeus asked Hades to return Persephone—if she had not tasted the food of the dead yet. When it had been discovered that she had already munched on some measly pomegranate seeds, the arrangement had to be tweaked. Result? Persephone's heart had been split in two, being separated from both her mom and her husband. She spends six months upstairs, and six months downstairs.

When Persephone was with Hades, her mother refused to let anything grow on Earth. In short, she invented winter. When her daughter came back to her, spring would kick in and make the Earth bountiful and beautiful again.

That's why you have the motherly duo to blame for the seasons. Persephone wasn't down here though. She's upstairs, with her mom, which would explain why the plants in her garden are deteriorating. Never mind the things that were growing here. I came down because I wanted peace of mind and the perfect place would be in the Underworld. I had my own room, complete with a filled refrigerator. Life couldn't be any better. It was also easier for me to use my powers here. The darkness makes it easier to shadow travel, hence making me less tired whenever I decide to transport from one place to another.

"Welcome to Hades' Castle," said a big sign from the front of Hades' abode. The big doors opened and I was whisked away into the darkness, only illuminated with the shine and luster of the obsidian walls.

I ended up in my room, which I am glad about. I lunged and plopped myself on the bed. The softness made me want to sleep. I tried to fight it, but the waves of tiredness and mild fatigue washed over me. I closed my eyes. All went black.

* * *

_**Vivi's Point of View.**_

"I don't know, Megan. It's just…unfair that he takes advantage of me like that."

Me and Megan were b the porch of cabin ten. I prefer being outside rather than in, seeing (more likely, smelling) as the inside of the cabin was engulfed in a mishmash of different perfumes. The scent was breathtaking, literally. If you weren't a resident of this particular cabin, you would have choked. Thankfully, the scent today was not at all that strong. Megan's siblings were inside doing makeovers for the other campers.

"Oh, Vivi. Why don't we just paint your nails? That'll take your mind off of things." Knowing Megan, this would be a very easy task for her, but she wouldn't like it. She was trying to cheer me up, I suppose. "How 'bout a rainbow?"

"That's childish. I'd go with black."

"Why black all of a sudden? I mean, you are the daughter of the rainbow herself! Shouldn't you go for more daring colors?"

I didn't want to tell her my reason. She may be my best friend here, but even that has limitations. Colors should be used to indicate what mood you're in. Guess why it's black.

"Nah, it's nothing," I said, but it sounded like I was trying to convince myself instead of her. She didn't buy it. She can see through me. Like an X-ray. It's scary.

Now, how me and Megan became friends, best friends even, is way beyond me. We just met at our first day here, when we arrived. I accidentally stepped on her foot, she got mad, and stepped on me, too. The anger subsided, and we became what someone would call…acquaintances.

After I strayed off from Percy's somewhat boring discussion and ended up being followed by Nico, I missed the orientation film. Megan was the one that spiked it up for the day after the claiming. She went to my cabin, and explained everything. When the news that I was actually half-something came from Nico, I felt perfectly indifferent. But when I heard it from her, I totally freaked out and had a nervous breakdown. She calmed me down, and eventually, we started hanging out despite her parentage. I don't know what I had against Aphrodite, but I don't like what she reigns over. Love. I still avoided her siblings, but sometimes it's nice to turn to them when you have problems. Especially now.

"Oh, Megan. It's Jasper. You should know that," I said, calmly. "It's been a week and I don't think I can stand lugging around his equipment while acting lovey-dovey anymore. It's a tiresome game to play."

Remember that archery contest? To tell you the truth, I lost. It's nothing to be ashamed of, really. Apollo's kids kick butt. As a consequence, Jasper assigned me to be his personal assistant. Slave was more like the word I'd need. My legs and back couldn't take it anymore. My entire body was sore, even from just carrying his stuff. I must look pathetic. He declared that I was his property. Not one to fight back, I just went on with it, ignoring that I seriously did not like being claimed by a guy, whatever the sense might be.

"Look. Forget him for a while. You know, let's go canoeing if that'll help your mind be clear of things. Or we could go up the lava wall." She smiled sympathetically. She was the only one whom I've been able to talk to properly with for the past few days. I might add that Nico has been avoiding me since Hades knows when.

"Just paint the nails. I'd rather not exhaust myself."

As if on cue, Megan's half-brother, Rafael went out and and exclaimed, "Well, why not go for the whole package deal? It doesn't hurt to be _beautiful_." He said "beautiful" like it meant millionaire. I expected as much.

With nothing else to do, I knew I didn't have a choice. Megan chuckled and led me through Aphrodite's cabin. I knew right then and there that I was not going to look like the Vivi I have known. At least, only for a short while.

* * *

**A/N: OH, right. Another chapter. I inserted a Vivi segment. Just felt like it. Plus, this seems a bit off-track, seeing as my mind is actually wavering to other thoughts at the moment. (Like 5 school projects to attend to, all due this Monday. Plus, I have to worry about Prom Night, which is approximately two weeks from now. I'm part of the committee. Ugh.) Sorry if it's not how you guys expected it. Review and spill your thoughts. Might need ideas for future chapters.**


	6. I Get Advice, She Runs Away

**Vivi's POV:**

They forgot to paint my nails. They did my hair, my face, but they forgot my nails. That was the only thing I wanted. Black nails. You want to know why? The truth is, I'm starting to forget about Nico, because of everything that's been happening here in Camp Half-Blood. He has been avoiding, ignoring, and escaping _me._ And I'm not pretty sure if I did anything wrong.

Let's explain my life in colors! Daughter of Iris here, hello?

**Red.** I got frustrated at sword fighting that I accidentally slashed at my instructor's face (Clarisse). You would have thought that she could have dodged it, but, no. I guess she was a bit distracted since she has relationship problems with Chris.

**Black. **Like I said, I was trying to remember Nico.

**Gray. **My life is out of tune. My mother will be mad at me if I started thinking that the world is now black and white. I am depressed.

Finally, **Green. **No, I'm not sick. I am jealous. Of whom, you may ask? Megan Glendale. Somehow, I believe you know where I'm getting at. If you don't, well, just wait for later.

I didn't hesitate to run away from the Aphrodite cabin. I just did, and I ended up being in a strange, familiar place I knew was really saddening.

* * *

**Nico's POV:**

I woke up because something was poking at my side. A hellpuppy. Black, and just as big as a Rottweiler. It looked like a much younger version of Mrs. O'Leary, because it probably is. The puppy howled.

It seemed to me that my dad wants an audience, but I wasn't completely sure if that's what the hellpuppy means, because I can't speak dog. Why Daddy Dearest would ever send me something as cute and cuddly as this is way beyond me. Go with the flow.

I stood up and and pulled out a can of Dr. Pepper from my mini-fridge. One of the few benefits I have here in the Underworld. Mr. D never did allow me to have anything more than just the usual furniture. I swear, he must hate me and my dad. He always gives me death stares whenever I pass by their table at lunch.

I drank the soda while going across the hall to my father's throne room. Crushed the can and let the shades take it away from me. Instant service. You don't get that everyday, do ya? Not even in fast food restaurant. Like I said, benefits. It's better here than in camp. Plus, I get to do whatever I want, whenever I want to do it. I could have stayed here for Zeus knows when, but my dad has other plans. "Stay there! You have to keep our cabin occupied." Occupied-schmoccupied, I didn't care.

Entering the throne room! Cue eerie music? Check. Dark and ominous creaking of the door I entered in? Yep. Creepy silence? Very. Awkward moment when you stare at your dad and don't know what to say? Checkeroo. A small voice at the back of my head told me "Bow down, you idiot! He's a god, and you're what? A teenage boy with raging hormones. Go figure."

"Uh, dad." I said oh-so intelligently. Not. You could've said HI, you jerk. I mentally face-palmed myself. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

I felt lame after that. Well? Wasn't Hades going to say something to his supposed only son as of the moment? I mean, he can't just sit there and stare at me, right? Well, he does have all the time in the world seeing as he _is_ a god. But most definitely, a god with a very short amount of patience. Hey, at least he gets to talk to his son every once in a while. It's better than having souls tell you how cruel you are and plead for you to let their spirits (souls, ghostly embodiments, whatever) go back to bid their loved ones goodbye. Very irritating, and I speak from experience. Most souls I summon up for a conversation are like that.

"Well, are you just gonna stand there, boy? I don't have all day, you know. Well, technically, it does feel like night here, but you get the point. Hurry up."

"Well, apparently, dad, you sent for me. Don't _you _have something to say?" I said, unaware that his robe was glistening with the faces of the dead souls that freaked me out the first time I ever saw them.

"Well, you popped into _my_ kingdom boy. You have to have a reason. Anything immature is simply regarded as selfishness. I know you don't like camp, but you're there for a reason."

"And that reason is? Look. I just came here because I wanted to. Be glad I actually want to visit you from time to time. Especially during the summer whenever your dear wifey isn't around." I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him. Very disrespectful, but it would be so totally cool if I actually got to do that and wouldn't get blasted to bits.

He sighed. "Look, I know I'm not Apollo, and I'm darned lucky I'm not," he muttered. "But I can see whatever there is in for you. You get to go on a quest! *note that he is speaking in a sarcastic manner* After all that, _blah blah_, I'm pretty sure there'll be a victory. Duh. Look at that infamous Jackson, every single one of his stupid quests go horribly wrong at the start. I'm pretty sure it happens every time on every single quest the Fates plan on. In the end he wins, even if he's not the hero. Bah, how pathetic. But this time, either you or someone else will get a quest. You'll be part of it, and will bring glory once again to the name of which you bear. Isn't that exciting? Now, run along. Make me proud or something." Hades sighed, uninterested.

"Yeah, as if I'll ever get this lazy butt off my bed. No way am I going on a quest, I just had one two weeks ago!"

"Yeah, yeah, stop whining, boy. Whether you like it or not, you're going to end up in the same trip with people. Like some people say, _damned if you do, damned if you don't_. I find it very appealing, don't you think? Besides, it was that Perseus that got all the fame. Wouldn't you want your share?"

To think that I could actually contradict my father, that would be a very difficult thing to do. He was right. Remembering that quest made me feel uneasy. It was always Percy in the way. I could have killed that cyclops if Percy hadn't been such an pigheaded bastard, always gloating because he was invincible. Fine, quest or no quest, I'll be helpless when I get dragged into it one way or another.

"Yeah, thanks for the talk, father. I'll be going now." I turned my back on him and started walking away.

"One last thing. The simplest things are the most easily overlooked. Remember that. It'll prove useful one way or another. Now run along, I've got another audience with a serial killer, pleading innocent. Pah, today's world is full of despair. I find no hope in the belief that humans actually believe that the can save this earth they call home. They destroy everything."

_The simplest things are the most easily overlooked._

What could that possibly mean? Instead of trying to drain my brain figuring it out, I went back to my room, took a chocolate bar, ate it (Duh, what else would I do with it?) and took a nap. I woke up then shadow-traveled back to the world above. It was night time. Typical. I am a nocturnal creature. I know it's easy to get lost in camp, especially when it's dark. Granted that I'm the son of Hades, who resides in a dark and dreary world, I'm pretty used to the blackness. The only problem is that I don't have any night vision goggles or even a simple flashlight to guide my way. Luckily enough, I stumbled across a familiar path and ended up at Zeus' Fist. Unfortunately, someone was there. Someone I was not expecting to meet.

* * *

**A/N: It took me a month or two to actually write this chapter. Forgive me! It's kind of short, as compared to the usual 2000+ words standard of mine. I assure you, though, that I will update quicker because I got over that little plot-hole of mine and got crazy ideas, thanks to this weird set of divination cards. Woopeeh! Anyway, I' suppose I'm getting closer to a point now, eh? Never mind. Oh, I am hurt, I am very much hurt. Review and make me happy. :)**


	7. She Trips Over A Body

**A/N: I have decided to move my author's note to the first portion of this story. This is a rather boring part, overall. Heh. Here's to **_**Sonofhell666**_** for motivating me to write. The fastest time now would be two and a half days. Here it is, read and review and I give you cookies. Mwahaha!**

* * *

Either she saw me and I was ignored, or I was completely invisible to her in the darkness (Which would seriously be cool and I'd be able to add that to my list of super awesome powers).

Apparently, it was that first option that applied to this very moment. She paid me no heed and continued staring at the blankness of space. Fine, I freakin' walked toward her, taking only three long strides, but to no avail. Am I really that ugly that you choose to ignore me, woman? "Vivi, will you please look at me? You're being difficult."

That's when she looked at me like I said I was wearing a tutu and a clown wig. From there, I could see that she looked paler than usual, and that she had dark bags under her eyes. Her hair was a mess with twigs and stray branches clinging on it because of the curls, making it look like she just ran straight here, ignoring the trees. She had a few cuts on her arms and on her neck lay a long silver chain with glass shaped like a prism that hung from the center. Even under the dim moonlight,it shimmered with a lot of colors.

"Why, di Angelo," she murmured. I winced at my surname. "Nice of you to finally drop by. You look handsome." Mock me, eh?

"Well, I've been working out, thank you very much for noticing," my voice acerbic. I didn't mean to speak like that but it just came out that way. Not my fault. I regret nothing!

She sighed, then turned away. "Look, if you're just gonna keep hurling sarcastic comments back at me, then I suggest you leave. I know I don't own this place but I was here first."

She actually had a point, but I refuse to make her know that I acknowledge that fact.

"I'm sorry, okay? I just don't like it if I'm being ignored." I just sat down by the ground next to her, a reasonable distance of a few inches away.

"You think I do? Aw, Nico, is that all you want?" she asked, looking all pouty-pouty at me, like she was pleading for candy or something. "Attention?" I looked away.

"I've been trying to give you that for the past few weeks! Weren't you the one who virtually pretends I don't exist whenever I say something like a simple 'hi' to you at totally random times?" She pressed me on for an answer, and personally, I felt guilty.

"Yeah, I am that guy." I rolled my eyes. "You were hanging out with that Apollo kid. Didn't want to take any chances. 'Sides, you kind of looked busy with him."

"Yeah, and you looked kind of busy with Megan. Haha."

"Touché."

"Look, Nico. There's something I've got to say to you, if it makes you feel any better. I don't know if it will, only Hades knows, so here we go."

Awkward silence.

"Okay, so Jasper and I had that challenge, you remember? I lost, okay. I bet ya didn't know that. *I didn't.* In exchange, he asked me to be his personal assistant. Slave is a better term for that, but who cares? No one. Yeah, then I refused at first. Found out I couldn't, because a deal was a deal, even if I didn't swear on the River Styx. On the first week, he'd ask me to lug around his archery stuff, give him the best strawberries I could get at the fields and find shells to add to his collection. I know, freaky, right? Then I'd have to wake up extra early because Apollo's offspring have sleeping problems whenever the sun was already shining in the morning." She took a deep breath and exhaled, and I found it quite weird that she could talk that fast or that straight like it was just one sentence.

"Then on the second week, he asked me to be his girlfriend, reminding me that it was part of the deal. I was like 'no way', then he was like, 'yes, way' then we started arguing and so there. I'm officially his girlfriend as of the moment. He could have any girl, yet he chose me. Eck." She made a gagging noise.

I asked myself why I didn't teach this girl how to hold an arrow properly, more so, how to aim. And Jasper is such a leech.

"The sad thing is," Vivi mentioned, breaking me from my thoughts of summoning dead soldiers to Jasper's cabin. "He said I should stay away from you. It went really well since you were doing the same thing…"

"So I guess we shouldn't be meeting up, eh? I'm going. I'm tired." And a bit irritated. Not with her, but with him. As soon as I was about to get up, her hand rose up and held me by my forearm.

"You didn't let me finish. Sit. Down." She stared up at me with blank eyes.

Okay, I give in. Continue.

"You're my friend, Nico. I really hope you'd acknowledge that. I'd rather experience the most horrid punishment Tartarus can ever offer me than stay away from you. Besides, you _are_ the first guy I met here, right?" She smiled, and a pop of color lightened her face.

"Yeah, I am." I grinned. Seeing how better she felt made me feel better as well. Still, I do not want to be dubbed as the other guy on any sort of gossip, so there's still a chance that I might avoid her. Ignore the thought, I'm just glad we were on speaking terms again.

Just in the middle of our happy moment in our own personal bubble, we heard a girl scream out loud in terror. Instinctively, we both stood up and searched for the source of that noise. Vivi had a flashlight with her (Wow, very reliable) and lit up a path down the forest.

The leaves rustled in the eerie night wind and made echo sounds as it hit the small hills. "Hellooooooo? Anyone out here? Besides us?" Vivi called out, her voice getting weaker with each word. We were in an unfamiliar place in the forest, and it seems like we've gone off way too far from the cabins.

"I don't think anyone's out here other than us, Nico. I think we should head back. We could get lost. Even Chiron says that some parts of the forest are not for demigods. We don't have weapons, and-"

I shushed her. I heard footsteps and a twig snapping somewhere close.

_Dear Hades,_

_It would really be awesome_

_if you granted me night_

_vision. It would totally_

_help out._

_- Nico._

"Nico, I don't like the sound of this…It's getting late, we really shouldn't be out here. Maybe it was just a harpy having a snack." She genuinely looked scared, as if the suspense was killing her.

"Fine. We investigate tomorrow. You okay with ditching?"

She agreed, and as we walked back together, she tripped. More so, her foot got tangled up and intertwined with a body. A mass of tousled blonde hair caked with mud, dirt all over her hair, and shoe marks (from Vivi, of course) decorated her body. It was none other than Megan Glendale. How, why, what? Why is she here, her hold on life so weak? How did she end up here, lying on the ground like a lifeless dummy? What did this to her?

Vivi lost her composure and suddenly cried, thinking that she might have lost her friend. I couldn't bring myself to tell her that she was still alive, because her cries got louder and wouldn't listen to me. How stupid of her not to check the vital signs. I wouldn't need to do it, though. She's not dead yet.

"Victoria, we need to get her to the infirmary." I nudged her, but she kept silent, unwilling to move. "Vivi, move it." She flinched.

"Fine, seeing as you're not helping, I might as well show you how strong and manly I am." She tumbled away as soon as I pushed her, lightly, if I may add. I carried Megan in my arms, gently, as if her life depended on me not dropping her. Vivi stalked quietly behind me as we walked straight through the forest, hoping we'd get to the infirmary in time.

Thank Hades, we made it. After a few detours, squirrels scratching Vivi's face as she made a desperate attempt to get it off (I didn't know we had squirrels here. Though it's completely more convenient than a run-in on a monster.), and a few trips, breaks and falls, we finally made it. Megan sure is heavy. Seriously heavy. Thankfully, I have learned my lesson in the past: NEVER, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, CALL A GIRL FAT. IT WILL STAY ON THEIR BRAINS FOREVER.

There's was an Apollo camper who worked the overnight shift here, so we asked him for help. We got Megan on the one of the beds and they pretty much did all the work. Nothing seems totally wrong with her, according to the reports. Only a strange air was flowing through Megan's body, something that not even that camper could've noticed.

_There will be a quest._ The voice of Hades rung down at the back of my head. _The simplest things are the most easily overlooked._

"N-nico…Megan's not breathing." Vivi said wearily.


	8. With Sad Eyes

Panic flooded the room.

Vivi was strangling Bern, the Apollo camper with the overnight shift. "Do something, you ignorant ^#$%&*!" she swore. Sweat beaded her forehead, and her curls swung furiously as she shook him. Bern looked pale and frightened, afraid of Vivi because she was acting crazy mad.

Bern choked and gagged, and struggled to get away from Vivi's clutches, but she was just too agitated to even lower her strength. "N-nico, heeeeeeelp meee," Bern said, his voice turning into wheezes as he spoke.

"Vivi, he's not gonna be able to help Megan if you're restricting blood flow from his neck. Let go of him." I sounded extremely calm, though my feelings were harboring by the side of excitement, in a bad way, though. Vivi reluctantly released her hands from their tight clasp on his neck. Bern muttered a silent thank-you to me, and struggled to walk to Megan's bed. He took a canteen of nectar and a bite-sized ambrosia bar from the bedside cabinet. He fed Megan and proceeded to check her vital signs. She still had a heartbeat, and her breathing slowly returned. In a synchronized motion, Vivi and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank the gods. I think you need to learn how to control yourself, Vi." She blushed, and I apologized to Bern for the sudden attack on him. "S'no problem, dude. Happy to help," his voice faltered, and he walked away. His steps sounded loud over the awkward silence and Megan's light breathing that loomed over us.

The wind blew gently and we heard owls hooting outside. Nobody else was here in the infirmary; Bern must have went off on his way back to his cabin.

"Heh. Well, that was embarrassing," Vivi said, trying to break the silence desperately. She never looked at me as she spoke. She started humming. It was a relaxing sound.

"I think we should get back to our cabins. C'mon, I'll walk you there." In the silence, she just nodded her head and trudged off with me, using her flashlight to light our path. I got a minor headache with a medley of trying to reassure her that Megan will be fine.

* * *

The sun was high up in the clouds, the birds were chirping, the smell of ripening strawberries drifted to the air. The sounds and squeals of enjoyment rang in my ears. I hated it. It was the late afternoon, and it was sweltering hot.

Vivi lugged me around like I was a dog on a leash. She's still worried about Megan. They were still monitoring her condition, and Chiron stepped up to help her. She's at the big house now. I don't know why Vivi's so worked up about Megan, or why she wants me to be with her for the entire day (She says it's because she might break down any minute, but hey, should I believe her? No.)

We walked past the beach, the lava wall, the satyr station, and through all of the cabins. We greeted some other campers, and basically skipped all the activities lined up for us. Hey, if anyone ever catches us ditching', Vivi takes the blame. I'm such a meanie. Insert evil laugh here.

While on our way to the pavilion, some guy from some cabin came up to us and said "Mr. di Angelo, Miss Vanguard, your presence is required at the big house." He whizzed away after that.

"Vivi, this is all your fault!" I blamed her.

"Wha-, my fault? Sure it was my idea that we should just tour the entire camp but it was your decision to hang around with me! You could've just left me dangling alone but, no. So, part of the blame goes to you. Ha!" She smirked.

I found myself mumbling and at the same time, wishing that I had left her alone. Mr. D is so gonna bust us.

As we entered the Big House, green swirls misted over us. Rachel, Chiron, and Megan were there. The atmosphere felt gloomy, and the place was dimly lit. Chiron was in centaur mode, and Rachel was easing herself up in one of the wooden chairs. Megan looked deathly pale, as if she were afraid. She looked up and saw Vivi, who scooped her up and gave her a hug.

"Meg, what happened?" Vivi asked softly. "You don't look so good."

Megan sighed. Chiron trotted towards me, hooves clomping along the floors. "As you can see, Nico," Chiron mused, "Miss Glendale has just received a prophecy. I'm not sure what it means, but I need you to call all of the cabin representatives for a meeting. Quick, boy, before she passes out. She is still too weak, I fear. How she could have landed a quest on her shoulders, I do not know."

"Wait, why did she receive a prophecy?" I scanned the room for Rachel, but she was nowhere to be found. Megan slumped down over a chair, and Vivi was pacing around the room in circles. Everyone must be worried.

"The oracle, Rachel, came rushing down the room. She called for Miss Glendale, though she is still in the infirmary. The prophecy sounded grim. Now hurry. A quest should not be kept waiting."

* * *

"As I was saying, leaders, the prophecy must at least be scanned for the least bit of ideas. Going on a quest uninformed of the perils can lead to such danger. Now, Megan, please repeat your prophecy." Chiron had resumed his wheelchair form, which provided more space for the leaders to occupy.

"Why me?" She mumbled. *Ahem*

"_Only four from this camp shall go on this quest,  
__but one shall be lost with a stab on the chest_

_Only three shall return with freedom of movement,  
__all mourning the loss of a fragile complement_

_A test from your fathers shall prove your worth,  
__for a clue and a weapon, straight from the earth_

_A foe, now a friend, from a close one goes dreary,  
__related to someone, whose life was a tragedy_

_The mystery goes deeper and the pain sets in,  
__tragedies and punishments, one must bear within_

_For the answer to this riddle are two peas in a pod,  
__both special and unimportant to the once-favored god"_

"Well, that was a long one, I'm surprised you can still breath," Travis Stoll chided. "Imagine, someone will die. You sure this quest is worth it? I mean, no one really knows why you of all people ever gotten a prophecy!"

"Travis, shut it. Don't degrade the Aphrodite cabin," muttered Malcolm, representative for Athena.

"I'm just saying."

"Now, we're pretty sure only four can go. Let's not defy the prophecy. And someone will be lost, as stated."

Cleo, representative of the Apollo cabin, stood up. "I don't think we should risk any campers on this mission."

"Who could be related to who? I mean, the line: _A foe, now a friend, from a close one goes dreary, related to someone, whose life was a tragedy, _is very cryptic. A foe. It could possibly be Hades, and he's also our ally now," said Katie or the Demeter cabin.

Everyone looked at me. Their stares bored holes on my body. Awkward. "Hey, I have no idea what you're talking about. But sure, keep me in the spotlight; I'll probably end up in the quest anyway." I remembered what Hades told me, that I'd be in a quest.

"Yes, so, does anyone object that he'd be on the quest with Miss Glendale? Anyone?" Chiron asked everyone. They kept silent, and we all know that silence means yes. Even Megan agreed.

"Yay, I'm on the quest," I said sarcastically. "I'm prepared to die."

"_A test from your fathers to prove your worth_, I suppose whoever would be on this would meet their dads." It was Karen of the Hephaestus cabin.

"Okay, so to sum things up, someone will probably die, there's gonna be a challenge from our dads, the perpetrator is a god, and he's related to someone going on this quest," said Vivi. Everyone was perplexed by this seriously long prophecy. Twelve lines.

"Okay." Megan was eyeing everyone in the meeting. She chose Vivi as another one of the quest members.

"So, who's the fourth one?" someone asked out loud.

"Is anyone prepared to die here?" Chiron said, his dignity standing out by the way he held his chin up high. Everyone backed off. I guess they thought that their lives aren't worth the danger.

"Chiron, we don't even know what we're up against. We don't know why Rachel spouted out a prophecy. We're practically clueless." It was Percy's turn to speak, hoorah. "We shouldn't rush things. I mean, there isn't a deadline, right? We can still think this through."

After countless arguments and fighting and teasing and name-calling, Chiron finally dismissed the meeting, probably fed up with all that.

"Hey, Nico. We should look for that last quest member. Since a lot of people are afraid of dying, we really shouldn't be picky with who comes with us," Vivi mentioned. We crossed through all the cabins, asking each and every camper for their assistance.

Megan and Vivi walked hand in hand together, all best friends and stuff and being "I'll take care of you" blah. I stalked them from the shadows, but they knew I was following them. Once or twice, they asked me to walk beside them but I decided it would look weird to all my fans. "What fans?" They both asked in chorus. They laughed it off in the end.

It was already late in the afternoon and no one still wanted to join our peppy little party. We asked almost everyone here. I guess no one wants to be a hero this time.

Our shoddy little bubble was about to pop when a familiar looking someone was scratching his head and breathing nervously. "I'd like to join, if that'll be alright with you," his voice shook wearily, as if embarrassed.

Vivi backed off and muttered a Greek curse.

"Oh, Jasper. How nice of you to offer your service, though…" Megan looked back at us, asking for consent. She pursed her lips and nodded her head questioningly.

Vivi wouldn't speak, so I voiced out my own thoughts. "It's your quest. You decide," I answered through gritted teeth. As much as we needed another quest member, I'd hate for Jasper to be with us. Even Vivi agreed on that.

"How bad could it be? Sure, Jasper. You're hired," said Megan. "Now, since we're complete, maybe we could embark on this quest tomorrow or the next day. I still need to rest, and I'm off. Ciao." She walked back to the way on cabin ten.

Jasper was then left with us, making it a total awkward moment to be in such a presence. Vivi suddenly got interested in the grass.

"Tori, what are you doing with him? Haven't I told you that…"

"…I shouldn't be anywhere near him, yeah. I know. You said. Goodbye, Nico." For the first time, she looked back at me with sad eyes.

* * *

**A/N: OOOOOOH. Is that dramatic at all? Eh? Well, I just got used to putting my Author's Notes down here at the bottom, so I'll just stick with it. It took a really long time for me to come up with a phropecy summarizing the entire story. In the next chapter, the quest will start. Yay. Review please! =)**


	9. Relationship Lies

**Vivi's Point of View:**

"The world," I said, "does not revolve around you, Jasper." My voice was acerbic, my gaze was like steel. How much annoyance can I put up with, really? Somehow, I was thankful that I had I high level of self-control, unlike him.

"Stop being so bitter." He grabbed my wrist so tightly, it hurt. He gets really violent these days.

I reclaimed my arm from him and said, "You acted so meek a while ago. What is wrong with you? Have you any idea that I have other friends besides you?" At one point, I didn't care. I wanted to get away from him, to escape this vile prison in which I am captive.

Anger flushed his face, and his nostrils flared. His eyes took on a sinister look, and I could do nothing but stare. He raised his hand and I flinched. He was about to hit me, but he hesitated. He breathed slowly, like he was controlling himself, counting from one to ten. _One, two, three, four__…_

"I don't want to hurt you. But I don't want him to hurt you, either." I knew he was talking about Nico. Yeah, like he'd ever hurt me. I knew he wouldn't because I knew he cared. Just my assumptions really, but there was truth behind it. He would never hang out with me or talk to me or even look at me if he didn't. He was my friend, I was his.

I saw the sadness in Jasper's eyes, like he truly meant it. Either way, he was still in a bit of rage, and I would not want to mess with him. I kind of felt sorry for the guy.

"Look, let's just think this through. Maybe you and I aren't ready for a relationship yet. More so that it was you who forced me to be with you. I've been childish enough to even agree with it." I sighed and looked away from him. "Maybe we should call it quits."

He looked worthy of my pity. "Tori, please." His eyes were watering up. "Let's make this work." The tears fell, and it seemed as if nothing mattered more. I could only stand there and watch him shake, watch as his tears fell to the ground as he was looking down, clenching his fists. I just wanted to comfort him, to tell him that everything would be alright. That I'll be here for him no matter what and that I would never leave him.

Of course, that would never happen. I didn't feel anything for him but pity. I was sorry for him. I wouldn't care, I couldn't. Maybe I should, and maybe I shouldn't, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. How can I love someone when I knew that someone better was waiting for me? I know I'm a coward, and it showed with how I act. Instead of saying what was on my mind, I just inched myself closer to him and gave him a wobble hug, contrary to whatever thought I had in my head. I'm strange like that. I never wanted to hurt anybody.

* * *

**Third Person's POV:**

Hidden from a normal person's viewpoint, stood two people. A big, burly old man, and a young lady. They were arguing, and no one was winning. There wasn't supposed to be someone that won, anyway, but luck was just pouring on the man's side.

"Why did you do that, just why? Answer me, why? Do you have any idea what you've just done? I found out about it just yesterday. I thought you were finally being nice, but no!" The woman shouted, and her voice echoed through the man's ears. Pain and regret lashed with the woman's shrill voice, and she broke into sobs.

The man just stood there, ignoring her cries.

"You are the most selfish god in Olympus!" She was losing. The Fates were against her.

"You are the most beautiful. Even though that may be a truth, you are still the most menacing, messing with other people's lives, loving someone else." His words struck finality in them, and there was no point in saying anything else. Still, the woman fought back.

"Look at you, you've done the same things as I did. You sired children, I sired mine. You've felt love for others as well!" She gasped as the man she was talking to looked away. "I gave it to her, you know. Because I thought it was harmless, and I thought maybe I should bring her a gift. To make her feel welcome. You never do that to your children. Now I find that it is cursed twice more than before. _It brings tragedy and misfortune for the wearer."_ She swore.

"And then you tinkered with it?" She continued. "You made it impossible to detach the curse from her even when she's not wearing it? You cruel man, you have to help me! I don't want any more of my kids to suffer!" Her head throbbed and her temples ached, abnormal for a goddess. Sweat beaded on her forehead and she was exhausted.

"My answer is no."

And it was final. Like a death sentence.

* * *

**Nico's Point of View:**

There was no one to talk to in camp.

Not even a single person who would care about what I would rant about. But let me rephrase, there would be **two** people, actually. But they weren't available. One had to rest because she was sick, and the other, well, she's in a relationship, and I'm not one to mess up with that.

Camp goes on as usual in the afternoon. What more was there to describe?

We would be allowed in the real world soon enough, so it would be nice to get out. I just had to wait for Megan to recover. Wait for Vivi to resolve her…issues. So what was I supposed to do? There weren't many distractions here. Damn, I should just die of boredom.

* * *

**A/N: Tada, Chapter Nine! Yay. I was kind of discouraged in writing this 'coz I didn't get that much reviews on the last chapter. Sorry this one's short. I wasn't motivated that much. I hope the action'd come in the next chapter. Lol, sorry for the split POV's. XD Review, please? I give you virtual Pocky stick. :)**


	10. Blondes, Maybe?

A few days passed, Megan had fully recovered. Everyone was ready, except for Nico. He felt out of place from that chummy little group consisting of Megan, the group's leader; Jasper, the not-so-much-of-a-friend but still the one person he was forced to cooperate with; and finally, Vivi.

He had to put up with a lot, and he got stressed out by it. With a deadly prophecy he didn't even understand, a couple in the group (which was even worse than Percabeth) and a shoddy Aphrodite chick leading the group, what could you expect from everything? Chaos, destruction and practically nothing to be accomplished. He wished he hadn't joined, that his dad didn't force him to join a quest to bring honor and valor to his name. He didn't need that, did he? He was already living a peaceful life.

"Thank you, that's all we need for now," said a sprightly Megan to the camp's storekeeper. He handed out ambrosia packets, four nectar canteens, a mortal first aid kit and Pocky boxes for snacks. He was Asian, no wonder.

It seemed the perfect day to head out and explore, and here they were taking on a risky quest. The real world seemed pretty from far from the lush greenness of camp.

"Nico, aren't you excited about this?" asked a brunette. It was Vivi, and she looked unusually happy today.

Nico grunted, and rolled his eyes at her. "Oh, yeah, I'd love to go on a quest. I'm pretty sure Dad would welcome at least one of use in his realm." He waved his hands in the air in mock excitement.

"I meant you could hang out with me without anyone objecting." Vivi seemed a bit taken aback. It was no surprise, Nico was being the usual pessimist he was. He wasn't disheartened at all, but he looked away.

They all packed lightly, only bringing a fresh change of clothes, their snacks and the med kits, a few weapons, and money.

Before leaving, they all said goodbye to their cabin mates, except for Nico and Vivi. Instead, they had a little conversation before the meet-up.

"So, they're saying goodbye… What do we do?" asked a shy Vivi, attempting to make small talk. She could never really think of what to say to Nico, feeling awkward that their relationship as friends would be ruined if she ever said anything wrong.

"Huh." was all that the prince of the Underworld said.

She tried again, "So, tell me about yourself."

"I," he hesitated, "What would you like to know?" He shrugged. He never really talked that much to anyone these days, except for the occasional chitchat with Percy or Annabeth. Sometimes it would be Megan as the center of his attention. More or less, he remained quiet.

"Oh, I don't know. I'd like to ask this, though. Do you like blondes?" Sure, blondes. Golden hair. The works.

"I don't know."

"Megan's a blonde. Do you like her?" Vivi pressed. It was all she'd like to know for the time being. She couldn't really ask this with Megan or Jasper hovering around during the quest, so this seemed to be the best time.

"Er, okay. Sure, I like her." Naturally, you'd interrogate Nico even more.

"What about her? Is it her hair? Her smile? The way she moves? The way she talks? What?"

Nico sighed. As soon as he was about to say something, Megan and Jasper came along, giving him the perfect moment to escape having to answer anything. It doesn't hurt to let the thought waver in his mind. Nico snickered.

"Hey, guys. Let's get going. To Thalia's tree!" Megan pointed, excited.

After a final goodbye to camp, with no leads, no idea where to go, and practically no clue as to what they were gonna do, they head on to the delivery truck that Argus would use as transportation to the big city.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry, guys! This is just a filler chapter written by my cousin for me since I'm a bit busy with application forms for college. If it's 3****rd**** Person, sorry about it. Cousin of mine has problems with sticking to a particular person to give off the happenings around that character. Expect chapter 11 to have the action! (I think.) Hey, gimme some ideas through your reviews or PM me. Thanks! 'Til the next time, dudes. :)**


	11. Mushy All Over

Okay, so maybe having Jasper along the quest wasn't such a good idea. He acts like a total slob and doesn't care much about how he's reducing our food supply to bits. Look! We only have two Pocky boxes left. I had to snatch them away before he could finish them all.

In the van, we all lay about just doing nothing. Since Jasper couldn't eat, he used his iPod for some music therapy. Nico was asleep. Megan, well.. She was fiddling around with her necklace.

Mine was just a chain with a clear gem hanging on it. Hers was more exquisite. It was gleaming and glittering, even when it wasn't in the sun. The rubies shimmered a bright crimson hue, while the sapphires glimmered a fantastic cobalt blue (Oooh, I rhymed!). Of course, it was just a simple silver chain that hung from her neck as the jewels were gathered at the center. It was a gift from her mom. She kept it hidden under her coat so that nobody would dare steal it, but I could still see a peek from it. (Who wears a coat during the summer?)

She seemed to notice me staring and asked me, "Vivi, what are you looking at?"

"Um, that came from your mom right? The necklace, I mean." She clutched it in her hand like it was really important to her. Of course it would be. How often would you get your godly parent to visit you at a random time, much less giving you a present?

"Yeah. You have one, too, right?" She pointed to my neck, and there hung my silver chain. "What does it do? Anything special?"

"It casts a rainbow," I said as-a-matter-of-factly. "No need to concentrate of water sprays," I giggled. It would be easier to IM with this on hand.

"Have you ever seen your mom? At least once? My mom was absolutely pretty. Well, that's to be expected. She is the goddess of beauty," she stifled a laugh.

"I got this from a Hermes delivery, actually. I've never seen Iris. You're lucky you ever got to see your mom. It makes me wonder if I actually have anything in resemblance to my mom."

"You'll see her," Megan said, sympathetically, "soon enough."

As if on cue, Argus skidded to a stop. We'd reached our destination, and he was about to drop us off. He looked at us through the rear-view mirror and signaled for us to get out.

"Dude, hey. Wake up," I said as I nudged Nico. He was still asleep and he just leaned over more to the side. "Nico, if you don't wake up, I'll ask Megan to scoot over here and do it for me."

"Do that, and I'll murder you," he murmured.

"Wake up or else we'll leave you in the van." Phew, waking Nico up is a really tedious job. "Nico!"

Jasper and Megan had already left the van, leaving me and Death boy to hang around. Argus honked the horns. We had to get off, quick.

"Five more minutes."

That's it, I've had enough. I grabbed hold of Nico's hand and dragged him. He was insistent on staying inside the van. He's too heavy. He kept on resisting my pull and I just had no strength to even move him by an inch. This is pathetic.

"Nico, come on!" I groaned. "Argus, help?"

"You know, every time you say my name, it makes me feel all mushy on the inside," Nico said as if he were drunk. Nothing to prove that what he was actually saying were true.

Despite that, I actually smiled. "Dream on, Nico."

Argus opened the back door and unwillingly carried Nico like a new bride. He came to his senses and protested angrily. "Argus, let me down!" His arms flailed in the air and he squirmed out of Argus's grip.

"Serves you right," I said. "I would have been less drastic with you than Argus." I stifled a laugh as he fell down. Accidentally, as Argus motioned. He saluted me, and went back to the van.

Nico dusted himself off and stood up. "No thanks to you, Vi."

"Come on. Where'd Jasper and Megan go?" I scanned the area. We were in New York, although, I'm not quite familiar with it. I was from the Michigan country side, and I never actually left there. It was strange for me to be in a big city. My dad was just so persistent that I go to this Camp Half-blood just for me to be safe. I guess he was overreacting because Iris is just a minor goddess and my scent isn't so overwhelmingly strong but it had attracted a few monsters.

"I think they're over there by that doughnut store," said Nico, quite unsure, but judging the fact that he'd know Megan anywhere, I decided to trust him. They were, as a matter of fact, at Krispy Kreme, buying original glazed donuts and some coffee.

"Oh, Tori. Come over here. Would you like a cappuccino?" Jasper asked. I grimaced at him and said that I didn't like coffee, but he was so persistent that I just obliged. I never really liked coffee. They were just too bitter for my liking.

"What are we doing here? Aren't we on an adventure?" I asked. I clearly expected that we'd probably be in a forest, fighting monsters and stuff. Engaging in a conversation at Krispy Kreme was far out of my line of sight.

It was Megan that answered my query, saying that we should discuss this quest even more before doing anything else. I sighed and just sat down by a table. It was Jasper that sat by me, and Nico was by Megan's side. If you were an ordinary customer here, you would have thought us to be on a double date. Megan and Nico, they seemed to be tight. I mean, they get along well. They never seemed to have any arguments and they pretty much look like a couple already. I sighed.

"So, about that prophecy," I started. Megan shushed me. "What?"

"Don't say those things out loud. Mortals'll hear you and think you're crazy." I rolled my eyes at her and started again.

"Well, we all know we're gonna talk about that, so here's the thing: The events that were mentioned there doesn't necessarily go in that order, right?"

Nico nodded. "Although, it would also be possible that it would happen the way Rachel said it. As long as we fulfill the _prophecy_," Nico used air quotes, "it shouldn't matter too much." He chomped a mouthful from his doughnut.

"_A quest from your fathers to prove your worth_," Jasper quoted. "I mean, Nico and I have godly fathers What about you guys?"

I took note that as Jasper said Nico's name, he sneered.

"Well, my dad's a normal human. What kind of test would I get from him? I mean, Apollo as Jasper's dad would be like, drive my chariot for me, fight a monster. Hades would be all 'visit the Underworld' and stuff. What could be expected from us?" Megan queried.

"Maybe it's acceptance."

We all looked at the sandy blonde boy, saying such simple things, although it seemed to have a much more deep meaning than what it actually implies.

"Acceptance," Megan said, looking down at the table. She picked up a doughnut and bit through it, relishing the flavor. I took a sip from my cappuccino, grimacing at it's bitterness. "Yeah, maybe it is that. I mean, if I see my dad, I'd probably yell at him. For not telling me what I really am. Keeping me a secret for so long. And his taste for women. Can you believe he chose Aphrodite?"

"Believe me, everyone would want to pick her," mentioned Jasper wryly. He smirked a bit, and finished the remains of his food.

I, on the other hand, was thinking of my own dad. How could he have chosen the rainbow goddess over any other woman, I didn't know. I guess I looked lost in thought because I realized that everyone was done with their share of food and mine was barely even touched.

"Hey, you gonna finish your drink?" asked Megan.

"You can have it. Not really hungry nor thirsty." and I looked away.

Someone could die first before we even get past half of this quest. Or maybe vice versa. Stab of a chest, would that pertain to something bloody? Or maybe it's even simpler than it seems. I've got a knife. Megan has a knife. Nico has his Stygian Iron sword and Jasper has his archery stuff cleverly hidden. Maybe we'll get in an accident.

Will this quest ever make sense? I sighed as we left the store, and headed on for gods-know-where.

* * *

**A/N: Ohai. Not much action squeezed in here. Somehow, I think this chappie is a bit unnecessary. For the following chapters, I shall probably put up everyone's (Megan's, Vivi's, Jasper's; Except for Nico's) past. Just so you know more of them. They shall either be told by 1st person or 3rd, depending on what I'd like to write in. Tada! Review. If you wanna flame, do it in the most polite way you could think of. Thanks! :)**


	12. Dear Diary: Megan

When Megan was younger, she kept a diary. It kept all her thoughts and secrets. There was nothing traumatizing in her past, but she felt like it needed to be written down, so that one day, she could read it again and laugh at what happened to her. Truth be told, she really wanted to forget her past. She wished it had never happened. Although she could not forget thoroughly, she had it blocked in her mind for so long and so well, she never seems to remember a thing. Now she was peaceful and content with her present life.

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_Today, I talked to daddy, even if he seemed a bit busy. I asked for some money and went to buy a box from a store._

_I found a big one and it only cost 50 cents, so I still had enough to buy a pretty wrapper. Daddy isn't so choosy with colors, so I chose "pink". My favorite._

_In my room, just a small fraction of our actual house, I settled using Scotch tape and wrapped the box up the way I wanted to. When I gave it to daddy, he smiled and said he'll open it later. I was sad because he was too busy._

_The end._

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_School acted weird today. The teacher kept asking me too much questions like "What am I to you?" and "Do you realize what it means to be one of the cursed?". I was too scared and cried in the whole class. Now I'm embarrassed and I don't want to go to that school ever again._

_Daddy. Daddy said he'd transfer me to a more accommodating school. I don't know what that means, but it sounded good so I agreed._

_The end._

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_Daddy transferred me to a private school. I had to wear a maroon uniform and I don't know anyone there. A blonde boy came up to me and said "Hi. I'm giving you a tour." I cheerfully accepted and he even gave me half of his peanut butter sandwich. I think his name was Jasper. He was such a nice guy._

_The strange thing was, when we went to the courtyard, a tall lady clothed in an overcoat came and attacked us. Her skin looked green. Even though she was kind of scary, Jasper asked her "Are you sick? We have a clinic here." I couldn't help but laugh. It made her more angry and she bore her fangs at us. We had to run. She called out to us in Greek. How do I know? I didn't, but it sounded like it._

_When we got to the clinic, the nurse diagnosed me and Jasper to have ADHD and dyslexia, whatever that was. Since we were in a private school, they gave us free medicine. It seemed to work, but daddy didn't want me to use it._

_I cried at night and daddy was there, he said I was special. The monsters weren't real, and mom would try to get a chance to come back to us._

_I love you, daddy._

* * *

_I saw a picture of my mom. At least, I think it was her. She was with daddy, on a cruise ship, hand in hand. They looked like they really loved each other, so why did she leave?_

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_Daddy said I was turning out to look like my mom. Beautiful. Will I ever get to see her?_

_Jasper and I explored the courtyard a bit more and found scales! What could it be about? He told me to be extra careful, and avoid any unnecessary conclusions. We had to keep safe. We weren't normal. Okay, I cried. I didn't know what he meant. He was there and he waited for me to stop. He asked his mom to buy us some candy. I ended up with a chocolate bar._

* * *

_Asked dad about mom, he got angry. I ran away, and headed off in the big city on my own. I'm sorry. This is classified as confidential. Thugs and ruffians by the alley. Had to get away. Bad things happened. Dad, I'm so sorry._

* * *

_Sleepless nights. Tomorrow is my eighth birthday. I went to the library and searched up Dracaena, the thing that chased us in the courtyard. They exist?_

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_As I am writing this, I am already 14, and ready to see the world. Dad told me that I was a demigod, whatever that was. I am being sent to this Camp Half-Blood. Jasper will be with me. I'm glad he's my friend. I don't know if I could handle this being alone, so him as a steady shoulder to cry on is definitely a bonus. I will be locking this diary up, and I do not ever want to see it again. It's too painful a past._

_For the first time, I saw tears in my dad's eyes. He never wanted me to go to camp, but as I was special, I needed to. He promised my mother. I gave him a hug. So Diary? I'm trusting you to keep whatever I wrote in here a secret. Fight long and hard. Thanks. Goodbye._

* * *

**A/N: Okay, Megan Glendale's past is not that confusing, and not that traumatizing at all. But when she was younger, she got attacked by a monster when she was with Jasper. He's a childhood friend to her. Don't worry, he's a nice guy. You might be wondering why a _Dracaena_ would attack an Aphrodite child and an Apollo child. Well, I thought it would be simple enough. Two demigods together would be an irresistible scent to monsters, right? Megan's dad worked at a cruise ship as a Crew Manager, but when Megan wrote about him in her diary, he was on vacation from work, though he was still busy. That's why Megan seemed to be an independent soul.**

**Well, Megan's diary is still locked up, and in the future, it won't be mentioned again because this is the only part of the story where we ever talk about it. t might not be so important right now, but it will have an effect in the later part of the story. Clue: she drank some medicines for ADHD. Will this have some effect to her battle senses? Yes, yes it does. Even Jasper will be affected, but not much. They both trained, anyway. They're both better fighters than Vivi, that's for sure.**


	13. Haikus And A Couch

Back when Jasper was in elementary, he always spouted the most random kinds of poetry, particularly haikus. Everyone always got annoyed, but he couldn't control himself back then.

Of course, most of his literature pieces weren't that good.

_The wind blows again.  
__The grass and the flowers sway.  
__I feel very cold._

"Dude, what the hell are you saying?" complained an older kid.

All the boys laughed at him for being meek and small. Sometimes, they bully him. Sometimes they take his lunch money. Despite that, he keeps those kinds of things to himself.

_They all fight with me.  
__I dare not retaliate.  
__Fights are for the weak._

When he goes home, his mom was always there, offering him the most support she could ever give. They weren't very rich, but they could still afford the basics needed for life. Jasper also played the violin, and would make money by playing in the streets. That's basically how they lived.

_My dad never shows.  
__Would he still want to see me?  
__Never known him since._

"Mom?" Jasper calls. "Who's my dad?" he asks innocently. The mother replies that she cannot say. "He is out there. Watching over you." She hugs her son and weeps quietly.

_She was like a rose,  
__Sweet and serene are her laughs.  
__Today, we are friends._

He met Megan Glendale when she transferred to the same school he attended. A tour was in order and they went around the campus, talking and enjoying themselves. A first friend, you might say.

_The courtyard so green,  
__A monster, a scaly form.  
__We ran away, lost._

They encountered a _dracaena _at the school courtyard. It seemed to have expected them. They were chased and chased, but they got away safely. He never mentioned this to his mom, he kept it to himself, for fear of being called crazy.

_The darkest of nights,  
__I mourn and cry and suffer.  
__Mother was now gone._

Jasper stands there by his mother's casket, staring at her now unmoving face. He holds back the tears and tries not to cry in front of her. _"Be brave, my son,"_ were her last words to her son. She died of cancer. They were too late in finding out, and they couldn't save her anymore. It was too much for Jasper, and he runs away crying. He was only ten years old when this happened.

_Fifteen and running,  
__Being sent to Camp Half-Blood.  
__Very demented._

Jasper thinks he is being sent to this camp to be treated of his issues, as he assumes the place to be a mental facility with a wacky name on it.

_He was my real dad,  
__Apollo, god of the sun.  
__Did my mother lie?_

He couldn't believe he was half-god.

* * *

"Okay? What are we doing here?" We were on 39th Avenue. Surely there had to be a reason for being here.

"We're exploring. Ain't it obvious?"

Apparently, it wasn't. Why were we here again? I thought we were going to a forest? Forests were always so…

…Adventure-y.

I definitely did not sign up for this. Why, gods, why? Megan and Jasper looked like they planned this spontaneously! To think that they both just want to view New York city just for leisure? This is definitely wasting our time.

"We've got a quest here, right?" It seemed Nico was also thinking the same thing. I looked at him and he seemed to be out of it. Shaggy black hair, sunken eyes decorated with dark bags underneath it, does this guy ever sleep? Well, yeah. He slept in the van. Took him long enough to even wake up. I'll rephrase my question: Does this guy ever get enough sleep?

Despite that, he still seemed sort of cute. Just cute. Okay, what is wrong with me? Why am I suddenly getting a soft spot for some sleep-deprived wacko? It wasn't like I was actually falling for the guy, gods, no. I pretty much don't want to get involved with any boy for that matter.

"Vivi?" Okay, maybe I hadn't realized I was staring at him for longer than I had intended to. I quickly broke our gaze and looked up.

"The sky is pretty, right?" I asked as I diverted his attention. He looked up as well and squinted.

"Nah. It's too bright for me," Nico replied, immediately looking down as the light washed over his face. "Although, it does seem kind of clear today. At least it won't rain." His gaze softened as he looked at me, and I was kind of smiling.

"What's with the look?" he cautiously asked, biting his lip.

"Nothing! Come on, we're getting behind."

After a few minutes of tedious window shopping, I complained. "Megan, aren't we…"

"…On a quest? Yes, dear. Now behave. We don't have a deadline to this, which means we can stay in the outside world longer than required. Chiron won't mind. At least, I hope they won't think we're dead already."

"Yeah, 'cause that would be seriously lame. I mean, we should contact them at least once in a while. Who's up for hotdogs?" Jasper added as he saw a nearby hotdog stall. I swear, I am gonna murder this guy for eating too much. Does he have a bottomless stomach? Looks like it.

Today made me realize how pleasurable it is just staying inside your cabin, lying on one of the bunk beds and messing around.

"Guys, is it okay with you if we check in a motel here? I mean, you know. You guys might be tired." We were in from of this newly painted building with huge signboards of advertisements of skin care products. She could have at least chose a better one.

So we entered and found it hugely accommodating. Sure, it looked kind of old, but it had a warm atmosphere, well-lived in. The walls were painted an aged shade of maroon, and it was accentuated with gold (or at least, yellow) furniture. There was an old man tending to the reception area, and he was testing his brain on a Sudoku puzzle.

He gave us a key (I don't know how much Megan paid him but the key looked like it was for a deluxe room) marked A-3. It was on the third floor, so we had no choice but to go up. "But I'm too tired."

"Come on, I'll carry you." Who I expected to be Nico was actually Jasper. Nonetheless, I accepted, my legs feeling like jelly as he propped me up on his back. Step. Step. Step. I clung to him like a lifesaver. It's at times like these that I'm actually happy that Jasper's there for me, even if he can be a glutton sometimes. The floorboards creaked.

Creak. Creak. Creak.

"Dude, there's like, only three beds!" I heard Nico shout. "And your reason is because I'm a night person? I need freakin' sleep, too!"

Jasper gently dropped me and we both looked through the doorway and saw Megan and Nico arguing. The first time I've ever seen them fight. Wow.

"Chill, Nico. There's always a couch. You can live with that, right? Besides, this was the only room with the most number of beds in it. Me and Vivi are both girls, right? We _need_ beds. Jasper needs his sleep since he's more of a morning person. You understand, right?"

"No."

"Good." Megan smiled irresistibly, flashing every inch of her gleaming, white, movie star teeth.

"I think I'm gonna explode."

"Okay, then. While you count the seconds to your detonation, Jasper and I will go shopping for food." Gee, Megan was really sounding like a mom. Wait, did she seriously mean that me and Nico are gonna get stuck together in a room? Is she seriously gonna leave us here?

The beds were made up and were tidy, and each of them had a strip of paper with cursive penmanship written on them. The names of each of us. Only Nico didn't have a bed, but there was a strip of paper on the couch. The beds were soft and bouncy, I just had to resist the urge to jump on them like I did when I was a kid.

"Three."

"Bye, dearies."

"Two."

They closed the door, leaving me and Nico inside. Just the two of us. Alone. In a room. I'm so scared.

"One."

* * *

**A/N: Don't worry, Nico won't explode. At least, I hope not. Haha. Why am I so quick in updating? Because the plot is already laid out! Besides, it's summer, it's boring and this is what I do. Guys, I need reviews, so please be kind enough! If I'm not satisfied, I'll just resort to writing oneshots. :( ****Just kidding, I love my story too much to get distracted by writing other stuff. And I'm not that demanding. But still, a review is sure to please me! Thanks, dear readers! :)**


	14. Can I Sleep With You?

**Nico's POV:**

Okay. The thing is, I didn't explode, thank the gods for that. How could they have left me out on this? I don't get a bed? Huh. I'm not that angry. I'm just…

…frustrated.

…confused.

…irritated.

…annoyed.

Heh. Who would've thought that I'd be experiencing a medley of emotions right now, eh? I just stood there. At one point, I almost grabbed my sword. It took me enough self-control to just stand there, where I was. In a room, alone with Vivi. I could use someone to talk to. I'm pretty sure she would listen.

I turned around and she looked afraid. Of me. Did I really look that evil?

"If you need me, I'll be outside." I closed the door and breathed. Feeling totally stupid, I opened the door again, checking up on Vivi. She was still there, sitting by herself on one of the beds, staring at the floor, unmoving.

Hm.

"Hey, Vi. Um, can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Hit me with your best shot," she said. She looked at me with her green, pondering eyes.

"Can I sleep with you?"

If she had been drinking something, she would have spit it out already. I think I've said this sentence wrong. I feel like an a**hole. Okay, okay, think, Nico. What to say, what to say? It doesn't hurt to clarify so…

"What I meant to say was, on the bed." It came out even more wrong than expected. I could feel myself sweating, and I guess I was smiling nervously. (More like smiling like a perv, idiot!) Panic or stay calm?

Next thing I know, I heard a deafening slap.

* * *

**Vivi's POV:**

"How dare you, how dare you, how dare you! I've only known you for a month minus 2 weeks, and you say that when we're alone? Dammit, Nico, I thought you were a respectable, trustwor-"

And that's when he kissed me. Just on the cheek. What, you can't expect someone to just kiss you straightforwardly to the lips, right? I see Nico still has a bit of rationality on him. I just stared at him with big eyes.

"Not a word to anyone." He winked.

"No way, Nico."

"No, I meant sleep with you like on the the same way I mean to share a bed. Not the 'other' thing." Oh, so that's what he meant. Never jump to conclusions, Vivi. Never.

"Sorry about your face, it's kinda red. I shouldn't have slapped you," I said, apologetic. "I was too defensive."

"You're just like Bianca," he said while drifting away in space. Who's Bianca? And why was I feeling bitter resentment?

"Um, who's that, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Sister." He pointed downwards.

"Oh. Okay.. You mean, she's dead? I'm sorry, Nico." I bit my lip, hoping that I didn't hurt him with the question, but then again, deaths are quite the touchy topic, don't you think? I really wished I didn't ask it, and I hope he isn't mad. I turned to look at him and I saw a side of Nico I've never seen before.

He was holding back tears. Bianca must really be important. That's where I mentally slapped myself. Of course Bianca would be important, she's the sister! Of course, I don't know, really. _I've never had a sibling before. _Nico looked pained.

"I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's okay. Past is past."

"That's just cliché." I frowned. "At least I don't have a sob story. Or do I?" I guessed knowingly.

"Go on, tell me. We have until those two" he sneered, "come back." Cue back to his angel face. I sat on my bed and he sat on Jasper's.

"Okay. When I was younger, I was extremely talented in arts. I could paint anything as long as I envision it in my head. I once replicated the Mona Lisa when I was seven."

"Seriously?"

"Just kidding, Nico. Geez, **can't you tell a joke from the truth**?"

"Okay."

"Well, I was just really creative back then. I don't know what happened to me now, but I can't seem to get any inspiration anymore. Every time I try to draw, to paint, to sketch, I end up crumpling it because it's incomplete, it lacks some oomph or it just plain sucks.

"When I was little," I stopped to think. "Well, little-r than I am now, I had braces. I wore glasses for astigmatism. I was home-schooled.

"How I came to be is a rather strange story, really. Dad was naïve at the time, I guess. Well, he was a promising man, my dad. He had his own job that pays. He sells paintings, sculptures, and he sometimes designs furniture. He was actually an English major, but I don't know what got him in the arts. He's also a gambler, betting on horse races and sometimes winning." I sighed.

"I probably don't make sense right now," I continued. "He had a pretty girlfriend. She was a model and also a make-up artist. Dad has a picture of her at our house. They soon got engaged. The silly thing is, at the wedding itself, dad forgot the wedding ring and then she dumped him. And so, dad went on the journey of heartbreak just because of a simple mistake. His solution? Paint and gamble.

"On a dark and stormy night, a customer went in to my dad's shop. Dad was working on a new piece and he couldn't seem to get it right. The customer, who was a woman, helped him out with it. The painting was perfect, and dad sold it for like, a million bucks to a rich old lady.

"Daddy was thankful for the woman, and the next night... Well, that's how I happened. End of story."

Nico applauded. "I wonder if there's something different about making love to a goddess and making love with a regular woman. I mean, there's a whole lot of demigods in this world, maybe…"

"Ew, Nico!" I cut him off.

"What? I was thinking out loud!"

"Yeah, and now my innocence is corrupted! I hate you." Punch.

"Ow."

"You deserve it, Dark-o."

"Great, a new nickname. Fine, fine. I'm sorry." Unexpectedly, he broke into a smolder.

I sighed and looked away. "Although, there was one thing my dad was hiding. Um, another woman, I guess? He told me that once he sent me off to camp. _You might be in for a surprise when you're sent home,_" I quoted. The thought has been bothering me ever since, but I don't let it get to my head that much. Hey, if he was gonna get married and if that was the surprise, I should be happy for him.

"If that's the case, they why don't you just wait it out, you know." He shrugged. Maybe my story wasn't that interesting at all. It does feel better to let some steam out but for this situation, maybe I was feeling a little reluctant at telling him more.

"You shall be called Rainbow." He patted me on the head and nodded. "Yep, Rainbow."

"Um, what?" I asked, baffled.

"Daughter of the rainbow goddess, duh."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious." I punched him squarely on his shoulder. Not too hard, but then again, not that lightly.

Our moment was ruined when Megan and Jasper burst through the wall and yelled. No, they didn't scream "Pillow fight!"; it was more urgent than that. "Guys, we have to get out of here!"

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**A/N: Um, hi. *squeals and runs away* I can't go on writing anymore! Maybe I can't seem to find myself writing this fic anymore. Ohmahgawsh. I need help! ****Anyway, there will be danger. A monster. A test from a father. That is, if I still continue writing. I have a lot of college applications to go over with, and people around here think I'm wasting my time writing this. (I totally reject that thought.) Anyway, a cousin of mine is forcing me to finish this, so I have no choice. Sorry if the story is kind of slow. Review!**

**A/N/N: BTW, the bolded part on the story above is somehow gonna be part of a more complex (I hope so) situation in the future.**


	15. Fading Away: Don't Die!

"Why are we running?"

"Because we need to hurry!" Megan was frantic.

"Why are we in a hurry?"

"Because a monster is chasing us! Now stop asking questions!" She squealed.

"It's in the building?"

"Vivi, shut it." Groaned Jasper.

"Sorry." I sulked along the way.

We ran as fast as we could going down the stairs. They didn't hesitate to bring their stuff so I had to be the one to carry their luggage. Talk about slavery. Their bags were heavy!

The other customers looked at us like we had no manners, which maybe was what we looked like at the moment. They (meaning Jasper, Megan and Nico) didn't seem to care so much that they kept dashing through the corridors.

"What's chasing us now?"

They replied with silence, and kept running faster, leaving me behind. What could possibly be so dangerous that we'd have to get out of the motel room we just paid for? Who could resist those bouncy beds, the cool air-conditioning, or the free breakfast? Apparently, Megan and Jasper could. And apparently, whatever was chasing us was enough to drive the both of them crazy.

As we darted out through the gates, we were greeted by a shriek, or what sounded like a roaring beast. A huge snake was in front of us. I mean huge as in, really huge. Not just 10 feet tall. It was twice the size of that. Maybe I can't describe it well enough.

Dirty green scales covered its entire body, and through the yellow eyes, you could see those red veins bursting with rage. The creature's mouth was decorated with an array of sharp teeth, dripping with saliva and venom. It coiled around one of the lamp posts outside.

"Crap, it found us," grunted Jasper. He immediately drew his bow and arrows (I don't know where that came from) and started aiming at it.

"I'll take care of this," Nico drew his sword and charged at it.

I don't know how much the mortals around the vicinity knew, or what they saw, but from the looks from their faces, they definitely did not like it. Even through the Mist, people would still see strange things, so it wasn't exactly that helpful at the moment. Hey, if people were frantic while we were fighting this giant snake thing, then it's definitely not a good idea to rely on the Mist.

"Victoria, look out!" Nico warned as the snake lunged toward me. I managed to dodge it, but I tumbled and fell on the ground, leaving my back vulnerable. The creature's tail swished through the air, causing strong gusts of wind to slash against our skin.

I don't know what hurts more, the fact that I was completely helpless or the fact that I wasn't of any help to them at all. Everyone was trying hard to fight off this beast, yet I wasn't doing anything but aggravate the situation, and get myself hurt in the process. I got up and scrambled away to somewhere safe, but still close to the fight.

Megan's knife was held loosely in her hand, and she tried to slash against the skin of the monster. A giant snake. Python! Maybe this was Jasper's dad's test, a physical challenge against the same monster he face eons ago. But how did the sun god Apollo beat the snake?

As I turned around, an arrow flew by straight past me with deadly accuracy and hit the eye of Python. The beast struggled and squirmed just to get the arrow off of his now wounded eye. A blinding flash of light startled me and what came next was that I felt like being sucked in to a compressed airbag. (It just felt like that; I don't really know what it means to be in compressed air.)

I fell on the ground after what seemed like a minute or two. As I opened my eyes, I was blinded by the sudden brightness. It was as if we were transported somewhere far from where we used to be. Well, my expectations turned out to be reality.

Where we ended up didn't matter at the moment. I looked around and saw that both Megan and Jasper were lying on the grassy ground, and Nico was already getting up to strike. Python was too fast, and crawled its way towards us in swift, snake-like movements.

I remembered I had a knife, but I don't even know how to use it, much less hold it properly. I hated feeling useless. Everyone was back on their feet except for me, still dazed and wobbly.

Everyone did their best at fending off the monster. Nico whirled his Stygian Iron sword at Python, while Megan distracted it, moving so quickly in the scene. Jasper was fidgeting with his arrows, nervous. He couldn't seem to hit the monster because he wasn't focused, like he was worried.

Nico's sword was gleaming with power. Rage and fury. As it connected to Python's head, it tore across the skin and scales. Golden ichor dripped.

Python then got uncontrollable, unpredictable, as his slithering body writhed in pain. I took this as an opportunity to help out. Leaving all the luggage behind and ran towards where Jasper was standing.

"Get away, Tori! You'll get hit!" Care and urgency filled his voice. Sometimes it was actually hard on concentrating on disliking Jasper. Maybe I did love him...

"Just because I don't know how to fight doesn't mean I won't!"

It took only seconds for Python to turn around. Me being a distraction was easier than having to try hard to get close and hit it. The creature then initiated an attack on me, and I just stood there, grasping the moment.

And that's when everything faded away.

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**A/N: I totally suck at writing action scenes, so forgive me. I had trouble writing this, and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to update that much in the following days because school starts next week. (Talk about lame.) Review and tell me what you think. (If there are any errors, feel free to point it out and I'll be sure to get on with it as soon as possible.)**


	16. I Just Want To Keep Carrying Her

**3****rd**** Person's POV - Somewhere in Michigan.**

As Python struck Vivi down, Nico knew he had to end this madness. Jasper would never be able to forgive himself if his girlfriend would die. Megan had to rush to her best friend's side if she wanted to save her life. The late afternoon heat bothered them all, and they were sweating, losing energy, getting tired.

For a moment there, everything paused. Thoughts spilled from the trio's mind. Megan and Jasper only found Python along the streets, and they knew it was sniffing out some demigods within the area. They were just so unlucky that it was them that Python was looking for. As they ran away, it began chasing them, not breaking a sweat, just cruising the streets to where they rushed off to.

Jasper knew from the looks of it that this might be what was coming for him, that this was a test from his father. But why exactly would Apollo send out a monster for him? It seemed…a bit ungodly. Of course, it would be reasonable if his dad would want to test his strength, but why does it have to be a fight with a mythical being? Why couldn't it have been just a duel to the deaths with someone else? His godly parent just had to endanger his friends along with him.

Megan never wanted to be in this tangled mess. She would've wanted to just hang out at the room they got from that cheap motel, read a book, chill and avoid this quest. She never wanted one, so why did she end up being the leader? It wasn't as if she was the brainiest girl in the group, but with Vivi around, it does seem like she is.

Nico, well, he was just forced on this quest by his dad, Hades. He is, in fact, quite sure that his dad's test would be to see if he actually survives this quest, bring glory to his name, yada yada yada. Of course, he, in his own hands, is quite capable of succeeding, so long as it wasn't him that was supposed to be lost with the stab at the chest (as stated on the prophecy).

The moment ended as soon as they remembered that Python was still there, raging with fury waiting to be unleashed. The same fiery eyes greeted them with an evil gleam as they flashed back into reality. The huge snake-thing was still there, waiting to strike. It hissed and slithered slowly to the trio, cautious but at the same time, it looked like it was plotting something, like how it would strike.

"Okay, here's what we do," Nico called. "Megan, you try to get to Vivi and assess her situation. See if nectar or ambrosia could work on her." Megan nodded at his instruction. "Jasper, you have to get close and shoot it with one arrow. _Just one, measly arrow_. That's how your dad killed it eons ago."

"Nico, I think we should start the plan now?" Megan said, worried. Python was nearing their range, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"Scramble!" Jasper shouted, as he ran off to the far end of the greens. Python hissed and like a spitting cobra, squirted out its venom as far as it could reach. Megan crawled along the thick grass, hoping not to be seen. Nico, on the other hand, seemed to have shadow-traveled to get behind Python. Either way, they all seemed to be commencing their plan.

As Megan finally neared the wounded Vivi, she saw that the damage looked worse than it seemed. Python had bitten her by the right leg, with blood oozing out from the wounds, her skin being torn apart by Pythons serrated teeth. Her knee also got dislocated since Python swung her around like a dog with a chew-toy. _She'll never be able to walk properly ever again,_ thought Megan, as she felt sorry for her unconscious friend. _Gods, help._

Nico charged at Python, his Stygian Iron sword at the ready, preparing to strike. Python recoiled from the sight, allowing it to be vulnerable. "Jasper, now!" Nico commanded.

Jasper took this chance to shoot an arrow at Python, just one arrow, the arrow that could save their lives, the arrow that could end this battle once and for all. He squinted, aiming at the beast's heart.

"For Apollo," Jasper offered. And the arrow struck the base of the giant snake's head. It shrieked as golden ichor gushed out from the wound. Imagine how painful it would be if this happened to you. The shrieking died down as it collapsed to the open field.

As the thing died down, Jasper and Nico never looked back as they ran straight towards Megan and the wounded Vivi. It was then that they saw how hurt Victoria was, and how much pain she was in. They cringed as they tried to look for something that could help their friend.

The early evening breeze wasn't that helpful at all.

*clap* *clap* *clap*

Everyone turned around and stared at the god that was in the area with them.

* * *

**Nico's POV:**

"Dad?" I heard Jasper whisper. I looked at the god and saw Jasper's features in him. Tan skin, sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, and a godly (or should I say sunny) glow. Sunglasses rested on the top of his head. He wore a crisp white V-neck shirt, denim jeans and chucks. He actually looked the same age as his son.

"Jasper!" Apollo cheered. He looked as if he were proud of him. The look that I never got from my father. The sun god smiled at us, and all we did was stare.

"Um, Mr. Apollo, sir…" Megan said nervously. I mean, she _is _talking to a god, right? Only, the "Mister" in her sentence made it a tad too respectful.

"Ah, you must be little Megan," Apollo winked, his calm smile easing the tension around us. "What is it?"

"Um, our friend is kind of, like, dying, so since you _are_ the god of healing, could you, um…"

"…save her?" I finished the sentence for her, seeing as she was getting too nervous. Either she was worried for Vivi or she was just acting weird.

"Who?" Apollo asked, looking around. As he looked down, his eyes looked surprised. "Oh, who's this? She looks…really bad. This might take a while."

"Dad, please heal her. She's special." As Apollo looked at his son, he expressed a kind of sympathy.

"Daughter of Iris. Yeah, Iris and I are kind of like a tandem, she uses my light to form rainbows after the rain. So, sure. She does look like she's special." Apollo winked again, and called forth the remaining sunlight.

Vivi's eyes opened up, showcasing her magnificent green orbs. She stared at everyone, her eyes full of pain. It brimmed with tears as she looked over to me.

"G-guys," she squealed. "What happened?" She winced as she sat up, and pain enveloped her form. She shrieked as she saw her deformed and bloody legs.

Apollo shushed her. "If I'm going to help you get better, you have to cooperate," the god said as he kneeled down beside her. "You can scream, but only to a minimal. Don't fuss if you want to be saved."

Megan elbowed me and asked, "You think she's gonna be okay?" I saw her face washed with worry as she spoke. "I mean, I thought she'd have done better than that. She just ran off to Jasper's side. Why?"

I thought long and hard before I replied. And all I said was, "I don't know." Very explanatory, huh?

For some strange reason, I think Vivi may really like Jasper, which wasn't really reassuring for me. I mean, sure, in truth, the guy really seems okay for me. He's nice, somehow a glutton, kind of careless and doesn't think his words through, but so far, judging from how Vivi acts, I guess he's not a bad guy after all. I just hate his guts.

"Guys, you might want to look away," said Apollo, gesturing that we should turn around. "It might not be a pretty sight, and you could be blinded by the light."

We did as we were told, and for a while there, light flooded the area. I felt tempted to look back, to see what was happening, but when a god is serious, you really should trust them. I heard Vivi scream in an excruciatingly painful voice. I heard some crunching, snapping and the occasional whirring, like Apollo was using something mechanical on her.

"Quiet down." Ordered the sun god. More shrieks. After that, there was silence.

Jasper was squeamish. Megan broke into a cold sweat. I was just nervous. After five minutes, someone tapped my shoulder. It was Apollo, and he whispered something to me that sounded like "I need your help," so I turned around and saw a small dome of light. You couldn't see what was inside, but I knew Vivi was in there.

"I kind of dimmed it up just so you could come take a look." He laughed quietly. "Come on."

We walked to the inside of the light dome and there on the grass was were Vivi lay, unconscious once again. We had to kneel just to fit the inside.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked. Her face was not in its usual form. She looked indifferent, but when she was with me or someone else, she'd always have a smile. Is it just me or am I really noticing the small things when it comes to Vivi? (It's just you, Nico.)

"Well, I don't know. After I told her to be quiet, she just became unconscious. I tried jolting her with some heat, but still no response. I'd like you to check if she's still alive." He shrugged, as if he, a god, couldn't tell. I mean, it was obvious that she still has a grip on her soul. But as I started to concentrate…

Her soul was actually hanging on a shoestring. "Um, what did you do to her?" I questioned the god.

"Nothing! I told you, I'm trying to heal her. See? Look at her legs. Good as new." And he was right. The bite marks have faded away and turned into pinkish marks on her skin. "No trace of venom either. And her bones? It might take a while for her to be able to walk properly, but she'll get used to it in about a week."

"Okay. So, may I ask, why did you send Python for us?"

"Python? Dude, you don't get it? He's an automaton. Hephaestus made it for me." He smirked, as if all was going according to plan. "The real Python would be twice as large as that, and a single bite can kill you. Hephaestus is just really good at making things realistic."

"So it was your intention to actually kill us all? Hurt Vivi, endanger your son, have us all poisoned?"

"You're thinking wrongly. I would never do that," he paused. "Okay, maybe I did, but you're all still alive, right? Including her. No biggie." He shrugged, as if I were making a big deal out of things. Geez, I knew he was carefree, but careless? I had to rethink on the god's attitude.

"Okay. I'm sure she'll wake up soon. We've got to get going ASAP. Night is coming and we don't want to run into anything dangerous. We're going now, thank you for your help." I scooped up Vivi and cradled her in my arms, trying my best to be gentle. She looked fragile. Despite the cool evening breeze, she felt warm against me.

As the light dome vaporized, the shifty darkness entranced us all. "Nico!" I heard Megan's voice. "Is she gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, she'll come to in a few minutes or so."

"Nico. We have to get moving," Jasper's stern voice echoed through our calm state.

"Whoa, guys! Why so serious? You can stay here for the night, just leave it to me." He hummed, swaying with the breeze. He had his earphones back on.

Leave it to a god? Isn't he acting a bit too helpful? I don't think we can actually trust a god, no matter how many good offers he makes. I mean, sure, he helped Vivi recover, but just how much is he willing to help us? I think it's time we get back up on our own feet and do our own things.

By the way, Vivi is heavy. Not fat heavy, but regular heavy. Not a burden, but there's a feeling inside me that makes me want to hand her over to Jasper. The other feeling? That I hope she won't wake up yet so I can still carry her. I don't know why.

A bright flash of silver light greeted us all.

"Ah, there you are, Arty!" Apollo grinned.

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**A/N: After so long, I have finally updated! School starts June 13, so that's gonna be a bit of a bummer. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The review button wants to be clicked by you, so REVIEW! It'll make me happy and get me writing the next chapter. Thanks, guys!**


	17. I'll Stop Being A Sap, Okay?

_**Nico's POV:**_

I thought it was impossible for me to be able to see the same two gods together twice in my lifetime. Now that I've experienced it, it doesn't seem so weird anymore. Even so, just the presence of the sun god and the moon goddess made the clearing exude so much godly energy.

"Don't call me that," scoffed Artemis. Her auburn locks draped over her porcelain skin. Since she had the figure of a twelve year-old girl, she looked like a doll. Even so, her voice was the epitome of calm, of maturity. She was beautiful. Way out of my league, though.

"Chill, sissie. It's not everyday we get to see each other, that's why the affectionate nickname is necessary. Anyway, I ask a favor from you, if you don't mind," Apollo asked, dignity intact.

Artemis took the time to look at her brother, gauging his expression. "It depends," the goddess said as she observed us from afar. "Who are these children?"

We glanced around awkwardly. "Ah," Apollo said. "The blonde one in the middle is my son, and err…These are his friends. They're on a quest. Which goes back to the favor. I need you to take care of them for a while, just for the night."

Artemis raised an eyebrow and walked towards us. We just stood there like idiots, with the exception of Vivi, since she was sprawled down the grass, asleep. The goddess's head tilted to the side as her fathomless eyes studied our expressions.

"Apollo, what is wrong with this young lady?"

"She's just been attacked by the Python replica. Nothing major."

"I see."

Nothing major? What the heck are you going on about Apollo? She was almost killed, dammit! It felt like the sun god was insulting my friend. I tried to keep cool, but anger coursed through my veins.

"Interesting," Artemis said with indifference. "Just for one night, Apollo. As soon as the sun hits the earth on this side once more, they will be out of my care on they shall continue to tread on their own."

"She's so…old-ish. Do you see it? The way she talks is so…medieval," Megan said with squinting eyes.

"That's just you, Meg."

I heard crickets in the background.

After an interesting whirlwind of insignificant events, the Hunters had already set up camp. A bonfire was lit and wolves roamed around the camp outskirts. A Hunter approached me as I was about to enter the tent where Vivi rested.

With twinkling eyes, she asked me what I was doing. She was a young girl, probably the age of eight. Why so young? Her silky brown hair reminded me of Vivi's.

"Oh, I was just about to visit my sick friend." It was the only reply I could muster out, after being so thoroughly tired that I swear I might just black out with all this fatigue. What I said had just disheartened the young Hunter, and she walked away without a word. She looked back with sad eyes, but why should I care? Hunters aren't supposed to like a guys, right? I sighed and entered the tent.

Vivi lay down on a small bed just enough to fit her entire form. Her face was pale, and her hair scattered. It looked like she was almost lifeless, but I knew better. I pitied the poor girl.

"Vivi, can you hear me?"

No response, but it was better than her actually waking up, because I had a lot of things to say that I know I won't ever mention when she was awake. I took a deep breath.

"You know, it was really stupid of you to actually run towards Jasper in a desperate attempt to fight for him, or should I say, with him." It sounded even more insulting when I said it. I wasn't done yet, so I just continued.

"You could have fought with _me_, you know. We could have made a pretty good team, even if you have such lame battle skills. You just had to be stupid. You just had to choose him. You just had to get yourself in trouble. Sometimes I just don't understand you. How you can stay so calm even though everything is going wrong is just way beyond me."

She wasn't waking up at all. I took the chance and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for not dying," I whispered. I though I saw a small hint of a smile creep up her lips. Maybe it was just my imagination. Or maybe it did happen. I just couldn't tell, but deep inside, I was happy. I felt satisfied enough. Everything was okay.

"I wish you were awake, though…Err—Maybe not. You might have punched me for kissing you." I sighed and stared at her still face. She probably would have looked so beautiful if she was smiling right now.

And I sound like a sap. What the hell was wrong with me? I gave myself a mental slap on the cheek, got up, and went out. The moon was glistening with a ghostly glow. I heaved a sigh and I swore to myself that I would stop acting like a sissy and start being my manly self again. After seeing Victoria injured and in pain, I guess that was what triggered my soft side. But I swear that side won't ever show once again unless…Never mind.

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**A/N: Hi, guys. It's been a long time since I last updated my chapters. Well, here it is. The lame-ness prevails. I am so rusty, but I swear I will update the following two chapters on the next few days because there's this long weekend thing going on. (WHICH MEANS NO SCHOOL, YAAAAY!) Don't kill me for Nico being so sappy. 'Til the next chappie! /hides behind a pillow/**

**Oh, BTW. Review and message me 'cause I feel a tad bit lonely, seeing all of my FF.N friends with new and completed stories while I am left behind. Pretty please? :)**

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**A/N/N: Sorry if this chapter seems short because I just wrote it last night. I swear on the River Styx that the following chapters will be better (I hope). Gosh, if I actually get reviews, it means you guys haven't totally forgotten me and stuff like that. Sorry, I'll stop rambling now and start writing the next few chapters. Ciao!**


	18. Questioning A Dream

I opened my eyes and it was as if a rainbow shimmered in front of me. As the colors faded away, I saw that I was in a white room. Everything was white, the curtains, the blinds, the bed, the sheets, the floor, the walls; Just about everything. Except for my dress. I was wearing a majestic Victorian-era ball gown with lace-trimmed edges, a heart-shaped neckline (which exposed my freckled, strangely curvy chest), and a ribbon was tied onto my waist, cinching it and making it look smaller. How I ever came to wear this dress or how I got into this strange room was beyond the limits of my knowledge. I blinked.

It was then that a door appeared out of nowhere which made me realize that this was a dream. But why wasn't I waking up? I tried pinching myself, which, strangely enough, hurt. I looked around the room, but saw no one. I was all alone.

I opened the door, and as it creaked, I peered into the darkness. As black as night, and I saw nothing. I walked forward, and my feet hurt. It was too dark to see, so I shall have to save my sights for later, but I dreaded the fact that I was wearing heels. They should have spelled it "hell" for all I care.

Walking made my feet ache, and I continued walking in what seemed like an endless corridor, until I bumped into a wall. Like I said, I couldn't see anything, so you can't blame me for being so stupid. I used my hands to feel the wall and see if I could do anything. There was a doorknob that I twisted, and so I delved into a universe of light.

The _universe_ I saw turned out to be room completely covered in newspaper. I swirled across the room in a desperate attempt to find something else that wasn't all black and white pictures and chunks of text. After my third spin, I landed into the arms of Nico di Angelo, dressed lavishly in white. It suited him, to say the very least.

We never spoke to each other. Our eyes met, and my heart melted. But this is all a dream, and so I conclude that my emotions are only manipulated. A soft mellow piano tune played in the background, and he swept me off my feet. I didn't know he could waltz.

We just danced for what seemed like an eternity before I woke up, for real this time. I sighed and got up, narrowly being able to avoid hitting my head against one of the dangling vases in this tent. I had no idea how I got here, and why, but this won't go on if I can explore. Getting up was hard; like I was a magnet being attracted to the bed with such a strong pull, but no. I really couldn't get up.

Pain inevitably enveloped my entire body, and all I could do was scream. I never heard anything; perhaps my vocal chords weren't working. The pain was excruciating, but alas, nobody could rush to me, to help me, to soothe me. Then everything turned black, and being so careless as I was, I silently muttered a curse.

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**A/N: Filler chapter here. Okay, so somebody just PM'd me, and he teased me for always having senseless Author's Notes attached to my chapters. I was really, really hurt. So, it has come to my attention that I should just stop putting A/N's here. This is the last (or at least, I think so). **_**/le sad face/ **_**Anyway, this is all about Vivi's dream, which has symbolic meanings. Can you guess? Good luck with that! **

**Just remember to review, 'kay? Review each chapter you read; that would make me really happy. And PM me so I don't get lonely. Thanks! :)**


	19. Box

Artemis asked a Hunter to call forth Megan into her tent. As opposed to her usual charismatic attitude, Megan froze as soon as she found out that the moon goddess required her presence. Of course, she obliged, and carried on.

"Ah, child," Artemis finally said as soon as she saw the blonde young lady. "Come, sit here." Artemis patted a soft, fluffy beanbag. "Talk to me."

Megan remained silent for what seemed like a long time, but was only five minutes.

"Ah, it seems like you are appalled by my presence. Is it because I look much younger than you are?"

Wide wide eyes, Megan nodded.

"Don't obsess with it," Artemis shrugged. "It gets tiring having to change my appearance every so often. So, I see a bit of jewelry peeking out of your blouse. Who gave you that?"

Megan palmed the necklace. "My…mom. She gave it to me about a few weeks prior. I forgot," she sighed.

"Aphrodite, a fair lady. You do understand that that necklace is _the_ Necklace of Harmonia. You know that story, right?"

Megan shook her head and asked what it was all about. Her Mythology lessons weren't so informative, and neither was it so pronounced that she simply forgot about it. Her mind wandered off during discussion time at camp.

"Yes, well. Harmonia is the result of Aphrodite's affairs with Ares. That's why Hephaestus devised this lavish looking necklace to give as a gift for Harmonia's wedding. She wore it, and since the item was bewitched, she was to remain young and eternally beautiful. Of course, it also has a curse. I don't know the entire story but it ended with misfortune."

Megan remained silent.

"In short, you're cursed. Maybe the effects aren't so obvious now, but just you wait," Artemis concluded.

"Wait—wait! You mean I'm cursed? Cursed by my own mother? What the Hades does that mean?" she shouted. "I can just take it off, right? That means the curse is lifted! I'm safe!" she said, sarcastic.

"Do not panic. I can help you escape your fate."

Megan stopped breathing for a moment. As she resumed her intake of oxygen and other gases, she blinked thrice and said, "Escape?" Her mind pondered on the thought.

"Yes, child. To escape. Run away from something that is bothering you." Artemis chuckled.

"If that involves me being a Hunter, then no thanks. That'll be a great disrespect to my mom," Megan replied, hoping that somehow, her voice might not give in to her nervousness. Although there is this sudden appreciation for the life of the Hunters, Megan could not imagine herself as a part of it. Think of how shameful it might be to have a daughter of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, to abstain from the very thing her mother rules over in.

"Ah," was all that Artemis could reply, a bitter tone reminiscent even after she was finished remarking.

* * *

Jasper watched Nico prop himself up on a log near the campfire. The fire's crackle was the only thing to be heard from the distance. As he walked towards the black-haired boy, he tried to suppress his rage.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Nico asked Jasper.

"I'm observing you, smart-ass."

Nico didn't want to fight. He as well never wanted any violence, especially at this calm moment of the night. When the breeze would blow, the trees' leaves would rustle and dance. When the crickets would chirp, it would mean everything is quiet. "I'll try to think of that as a compliment."

"Just what were you doing inside a girl's tent? Specifically Tori's?" Jasper's eyes narrowed at the sight of Nico, who instinctively faced him while still sitting on the log. "Well?" Jasper hissed.

"Nothing, I came to check up on her." Nico's face remained calm.

"Don't you lie to me, you bastard!"

Nico shushed the infuriated boy, saying "Kept quiet. Everybody's already asleep."

As Jasper raised his fist, a familiar face interfered and said, "Jasper, you're needed at the Lady's tent."

* * *

"My nephew is as careless as his father." Artemis stated. Distaste crept up her face as she eyed the blonde boy carefully. "Nobody fights here. You should have known better."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Here." Artemis produced a small box wrapped in cloth. "This is yours. Do whatever you want with it. Take care of it, make it explode, burn it; it's your choice."

"What's this for?"

"Out."

And everything fell silent.


	20. When Legs Feel Like Jelly

_**Nico's POV:**_

So Jasper called a secret meeting behind the bushes near the Hunter's camp. The bad thing about this is that it's already late at night, and we ought to get some shut-eye. Another is that it's too dark; the moon's eerie glow was the only source of light we had. Of course, the situation's got some pros if there are cons. This was the second official meeting our quest group had. Plus, Megan brought some s'mores. Wouldn't that be enough to call it awesome? Nah, the negative vibes still shone through. The s'mores weren't enough to satiate me. I wanted _more_.

"Alright, so my aunt, _Artemis_," I noticed that Jasper pronounced the name in a much more stressed way than usual, "gave me–" he broke off. He started fidgeting with his pockets. He produced…"A box."

"What's it for?" Megan asks. Her eyes seem to squint as she observed the figure using the dim moonlight. Immediately, she grabs it from Jasper's weary clasp, and starts eyeing it suspiciously.

Something moved near the bushes, but it seems that only I noticed it. I pretended that nothing's there, returning my attention to the little box. It was brown and gold, with a little lock sealing the entire contents of it, whatever it may be, inside. But what would Jasper need with this box? More so, is this even the right term? Box sounds to general; maybe if we narrowed it down a little.

"I don't think she would give this to us without any real purpose. Neither do I think this is harmful, so Megan," he paused. Megan stopped trying to pull the box apart. "Please don't do that again."

She surprised me. "Sorry," she said while blushing. Seriously, who blushes at someone like Jasper? Maybe it's my ego acting up again, because I just can't stand it knowing that Megan trusts Jasper more than me for some unknown reason.

For a split second there, Jasper's look softened up, only to be replaced by a newfound sense of leadership that even I cannot fathom where it came from. "You know, we should really just talk about this tomorrow. It's getting late, and if we start lacking sleep from now on, we might end up in dangerous situations. Besides, we need an ample source of light for us to observe that box to get an idea of what it might be about."

Jasper raised an eyebrow, while Megan nodded. "Nico's right. Besides, we can't really get our hopes up that this thing can actually help us in one way or another. It'd all be too easy a quest if this thing can just burst up and cast a spell on everyone and _POOF!_, problem solved. It just isn't the case."

Jasper sighed, satisfied with the explanation. "All right, guys. We'll get some sleep. Megan, you can sleep at Tori's tent. Nico, you sleep outside. I've got my own private tent here."

"Wait, what? How come I sleep outside? Hey, I'm entitled to the same grandeur as you guys are! This. Is. So. Unfair," I hissed. I tried keeping cool. I tried to be chill. The epitome of relaxed, of calm. I failed, naturally. My face immediately gave away any emotion that I was trying hard to hide. Great. Just great.

Megan nudged me. "Hey. You can hang out with us at _our_ tent. I'm pretty sure Vivi won't mind. Let's go." She dragged me along.

We took a few steps away from Jasper, stepping once on a twig, and almost tripping on a fallen branch. As soon as we were away from earshot distance, Megan started muttering to herself, and I asked her what she was talking about. She responded with a shrug.

"Gee, Nico…I'm kind of sorry. To see you put up with so much arrogance in one day, I'm surprised you actually survived. Jasper can be a pain at times, you know. But he means well." She look away, wistful. I couldn't read her emotions. Her face was a blank slate.

"He wants me to sleep outside with the wolves, and I am supposed to believe you that he means well?" I questioned her judgment. She bit her lip in sympathy, although I couldn't tell if that was supposed to make me calm down or what. You just really can't understand girls.

We were back now. The moon was brighter here. I couldn't see Jasper, but who cares? Certainly not me. The fire was dead, and the atmosphere was chilling.

"C'mon, let's go."

I followed Megan despite the sheer thought of staying in a tent. With girls. Wait, _two girls_. Now, don't get me wrong. There's this sort of triumph that I'm feeling for accomplishing this sort of thing. Strangely, it seems kind of off and awkward that the universe is trying to pair me up with two equally beautiful girls by setting me up inside a tent with the both of them. I do not want to look like a player nor do I ever want to be one.

The inside of the tent was warm. I felt drowsy, and I don't know what happened next. Maybe I fell asleep. It was the only explanation.

* * *

_**Vivi's POV:**_

"Hey, Vi. Wake up!" Someone tried yanking on my shoulder. It hurt, and I couldn't help but scoot over the other side. Only…there wasn't an other side. I fell flat on the floor, inhaling sharply.

"Ow," I managed to let out, rubbing my face as I propped myself up. Good, there's no blood, although my nose hurt.

"Great, you're awake. It's time for us to–Whoa!" Megan gasped and fell back as she looked me in the eyes. I raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what startling image I had on my face as I had just woken up.

"Well, I'm sorry for looking like this but–" she cut me off.

"What's wrong with your eyes, Vi?" She remained a few steps from me, not daring to move any closer. What was wrong?

I tried rolling my eyes around. They didn't hurt. I tried rubbing them, but nothing happened. I checked if my eyes were gouging out. Nope, still in place. Megan was still astounded. "Look, if you tell me what's wrong then I might get an idea as to what you're so surprised about. I'm not a mind reader."

She blinked and said, "Whew. Okay, I was just seeing things. It's nothing. Let's go." She stood up and gave me a hand. My head hurt for a moment there, but it disappeared as soon as I got to stand up properly.

"Um, why is Nico on the floor?" I cautiously asked.

"It's nothing. He'll wake up later. Right now, we need to get you to Artemis."

I didn't get to register that properly. Artemis? Since when did I end up in Artemis's camp? "Uh, why?"

"Nothing. C'mon." She grabbed my arm and started whisking me away. I felt a bit drowsy, and my legs were were. I could feel a sharp pain in my chest as I tried to breathe. What happened to me?

"Shouldn't we wake Nico first?"

Ah, I remember now. The strange dream I had involving him. The attack of Python on me. The bloody mess of my body. Apollo must have…healed me? A warm, faint trace of sunlight coursed through my veins. No, I'm not on fire. I could just feel the warmth.

"Forget him. Let's go."

As I took a step, I staggered and fell on the floor. My legs felt like they were made of jelly, which made walking seem like just a dream. "I can't walk, dammit." I tried wobbling around, but to no avail. "If no one helps me, I'm going to crawl like a worm to that goddess's tent!" I shout loudly.

It seems that Megan went out side without me. Without hesitation, I used my hands to drag me along.

I heard someone chuckle behind me. Aw, crap, that had better not be di Angelo snickering behind me. But of course, it was. Who else could be in this tent?

"Well, you look like a doofus right now," he said with a devilish grin etched on his face. I didn't say anything. I just dragged myself some more in hopes that he would ignore me. Oh, I always can't have it my way. You know what he did?

He tried scooping me up to help me. Now, _tried. _That's the keyword. Instead, by scooping, he actually touched second base. "Eeeek!" I screamed. "Nico, you pervert!" I gasped as I tried to get away from him. Not just touch, let me tell you. He _squeezed _it.

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry!" It was like he was in a trance mode earlier, because now, he looked like he'd been splashed with a bucket of water.

"Get away from me!" I dragged myself again. "Megaaaaaaaan!"

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**A/N: Hello, there. It's me making an Author's Note again, simply because I miss doing so. Yaaaay! So, sorry for Nico swearing. It's just one little slip, you know. Forgive me and him. And, yes. That was an impulse idea I just had for some UST, or so I think. Thankfully enough, I had the ratings set to T just to be safe. If you must flame, please be eloquent. I'll be updating this on a bi-weekly basis or something, the max would be a month. If I don't update after that, it will be safe to presume that I am dead. Just kidding! Hehe. Review it, please? Let's get it to a hundred, please? I'll give you virtual cookies. /winks/**


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